Can E10 95 petrol make MORE power than 98?

[Joelonghair]

Hi all, just watched an interesting video on Youtube by an Australian tuner / fabricator (channel is called The Skid Factory - they often do bits with Mighty Car Mods) where they tuned a car on 98 and then on E10 95 - with the latter making more power.

As far as I understand it traditionally 98 octane fuel has a lower chance of knock compared to 95 octane, so timing can be advanced which frees up a few more horses. I was aware that E85 fuel has benefits for tuning, but the video mentioned showed that even the small amount of ethanol in E10 95 can raise HP over 98 (lower cylinder temps, better oxygenation).

Just wondering if anyone has any further information/thoughts on this and whether there are any tuners in the UK mapping for E10 as I remember when looking at getting my car mapped it was always stated to run 98.

[Fastdruid]

AIUI, yes...**but** worse mpg.

In the same way that E85 is meant to be awesome for power but massively worse on mpg.

[Haltamer]

Seems odd - Wonder what an octane test of the fuels would return.

Ethanol is an octane booster, but usually mixed to == 95RON rather than starting with 95RON and splashing it on top I would have thought.

[Joelonghair]

Interestingly they were mapping to get better mpg too as the idea was to get cheaper fuel and more power. It's not clear in the video if they achieved this but they were looking at steady state torque and rate of fuel used. Sure someone with more knowledge on the subject could see things I missed.

In any case the video is HERE if anyone is interested.

[Fastdruid]

Joelonghair said:

Interestingly they were mapping to get better mpg too as the idea was to get cheaper fuel and more power.

Hmmm, E10 has a lower energy density[1] than E0 (and presumably 98 is E0) *but* the higher octane value of ethanol combined with the additional cooling effect from the very high latent heat of vaporisation (of ethanol) may allow the engine to operate under more optimised ignition timing at higher engine loads leading to higher combustion efficiency (and hence more power).


[1] With an E10 gasoline compared to hydrocarbon-only gasoline, this effect is estimated to increase the Fuel Consumption by 4.2%.

[TwinExit]

Youtube

Austrialian

= Red flags and to be taken with a massive pinch of celery salt ...

[Krikkit]

TwinExit said:

Youtube

Austrialian

= Red flags and to be taken with a massive pinch of celery salt ...

Why?

[SturdyHSV]

Krikkit said:

TwinExit said:

Youtube

Austrialian

= Red flags and to be taken with a massive pinch of celery salt ...

Why?

I made an assumption and then thought I'd click on TwinExit's profile to check.

I thought to myself "I bet they have a Porsche or a BMW"



I'd personally pay for more attention to an Australian channel than most other youtube car content channels, and certainly more attention to that than the German marketing departments