Esso to stop Ethanol Free Superunleaded

[astonman]

Some of you who run older cars ( or motorcycles), may already be aware of the wonderful Esso Supreme 99+ unleaded ( which is ETHANOL FREE in the Midlands and South East of England).
Esso,have decided that they are not following the industry norm,and have decided apparently for no other reasons to start adding Ethanol to their Superunleaded from September 2023.
It's something they don't have to do.
Those of us ,who are aware how much better our older cars run( in some cases cars than are less than 10 years old) on this fuel are trying to get Esso to change their mind .
[e-mail]

[Jim1556]

Well, they must have an idiot in charge. Not that I use them anyway, but another reason to avoid...

[BAMoFo]

Thanks, I'll send them an email. Ethanol can cause a whole world of pain in MFI engines and the one in my RSR replica is a very expensive and very temperamental beast at the best of times.

[SRT Hellcat]

That is very helpful to know, thank you. I use Esso Supreme in all my stuff as it is ethanol free. What a nuisance

[Geneve]

Avgas is leaded and ethanol free and widely used in air-cooled combustion engines.

[Yellow491]

Geneve said:

Avgas is leaded and ethanol free and widely used in air-cooled combustion engines.

Not good if you run a lambda sensor

[ChrisW.]

Jim1556 said:

Well, they must have an idiot in charge. Not that I use them anyway, but another reason to avoid...

Worth re-reading the issue ?

[astonman]

Also worth an email to Esso, different can be better from a business perspective.

[Orangecurry]

I don't disagree, but it is therefore odd that someone in 'ESSO' decided to take this marketing step of adding no Ethanol into their superUL mix at the distribution points..... and now they are reverting.

Perhaps it was a simple marketing test that didn't deliver a significant enough uptake in the ESSO SUL.

Shame though, as my nearest petrol station is ESSO branded. Back to Tesco's best (Greenergy) next year then

[RiccardoG]

I use the Esso Supreme, also as with the PCGB Wex card you get 6p off, which is always welcome. The icing on the cake was no ethanol - it changed my perception of Esso from "a bit crap" to "the enthusiasts choice". Therefore I'm obviosuly dissapointed, even though I assume it would just be a question of when.

So, are there any mainstream super-unleaded fuels that have 0% ethanol now? Its impossible to tell from the pump as even the Esso Supreme ones in the SE are all labelled E5,

[Guybrush]

The lack of ethanol is one of the main reasons I only use Esso Super (though my cars are OK with E5 and some with E10; I just don't like ethanol in fuel sitting in cars I don't use much).

[S600BSB]

My petrol lawnmower loves Esso Super

[Hereward]

Esso's Copy/Paste reply to my email (but at least they had the courtesy to reply within 24hrs):

QUOTE
Thank you for contacting Esso Customer Care.

We are very sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the change to include up to 5% ethanol in our Esso Synergy Supreme+99.

At Esso, we take the opinions of our customers extremely seriously and we have acknowledged your comments on this decision.

Whilst there is no change in legislation, the general direction of travel in legislative terms in recent years has been to require additional biofuel content, and rather than be out of step with the industry we have made the tough business decision to align the ethanol content across our service station network. 

You may be aware that super-unleaded petrol, labelled as E5 can contain ‘up to 5%’ ethanol, so the labelling on the pumps will not change– it merely brings our fuel in line with the rest of the UK fuels market. 

Once again, we thank you for your feedback and will ensure that this is forwarded on to the relevant team to highlight your point of view on the decision.

Regards...
UNQUOTE

[BAMoFo]

Hereward said:

Esso's Copy/Paste reply to my email (but at least they had the courtesy to reply within 24hrs):

QUOTE
Thank you for contacting Esso Customer Care.

We are very sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the change to include up to 5% ethanol in our Esso Synergy Supreme+99.

At Esso, we take the opinions of our customers extremely seriously and we have acknowledged your comments on this decision.

Whilst there is no change in legislation, the general direction of travel in legislative terms in recent years has been to require additional biofuel content, and rather than be out of step with the industry we have made the tough business decision to align the ethanol content across our service station network.?

You may be aware that super-unleaded petrol, labelled as E5 can contain ‘up to 5%’ ethanol, so the labelling on the pumps will not change– it merely brings our fuel in line with the rest of the UK fuels market.?

Once again, we thank you for your feedback and will ensure that this is forwarded on to the relevant team to highlight your point of view on the decision.

Regards...
UNQUOTE

Exactly the same reply as I received. I wouldn't usually have bothered to email them but the ethanol has the potential to cause some very expensive problems in the fuel system of one of my cars.

[SRT Hellcat]

I received the same response from their customer care office
It would be great to find out who else is selling ethanol fuel

[Orangecurry]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

AFAIK it doesn't work like that.

What happens is:

'Terminal' to distribution-points - 'fuel' is pure petrol; no ethanol - no additives package.

Distribution-point into branded tanker - the distribution point has the ability to add ethanol in a set percentage, and adds the additives package for that 'Brand'.

The 'Brand' can make the choice of ethanol percentage at that point in the process. Therefore they can easily choose 'none'.

Greenergy supply Tesco, so the only potential difference going forward will be the additives package, and I don't think there's any information in the public domain of what the differences are - for commercial reasons obviously.

[Orangecurry]

Well I was told I think the above by someone who knows what they are talking about, and I'm not saying you do not, but this could all be location dependent, and definition of terms - what exactly is a terminal and what is a distribution-point, which is why above I put them in quotes.

Let's just say the Majors do have a choice

[Orangecurry]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

So as Greenergy supply (are part owned by) Tesco, then are you saying that if ESSO is ethanol free SUL then Tesco SUL (geographically dependent) is ethanol free as well?

I can't see that.... but happy to be shown to be wrong. I suppose Tesco wear an ecological hat so they wouldn't want to advertise no ethanol in SUL?

We're speculating

[GTRene]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

ESSO is partner at the WEF, so... Do as you are told, or else.

you know, for a sustainable environment...kuch.

https://www.weforum.org/organizations/exxon-mobil-...

[IMI A]

Disappointing news. Nothing we can do about it sadly other than vote with our feet. We always use Esso won’t be so fussed about using v power or tesco 99 now. Doubt it will make any difference to Esso sales as there can’t be many people who use their 99 fuel religiously like a few of us on here do.