Compare And Contrast Petrol And Diesel Sold Supermarkets And Branded Fuel
In this essay, I am going to be discussing the different types of fuels sold by the different stores which are the supermarkets and the branded fuel companies; I am going to compare Shell fuels versus Tesco fuels also I am going to be comparing the premium fuels versus regular fuels. I will also be comparing the different fuels together and writing about their similarities as well as the differences they have between each of the different fuels. I will also be comparing the positive and the negative points of each of the fuels.
In the end, I am going to conclude the essay to evaluate the different points of each of the fuels and say which one is better for the car as well as the environment. Unleaded fuels consist of a chemical compound called octane the way unleaded fuel is classed is by the amount of octane it contains in a regular batch of unleaded petrol has the standard amount of 95 octane fuel whereas premium unleaded petrol can be in the range of 97-100 octane by having more octane in your unleaded petrol this can increase the performance of the car and that depends on how old or new your car is. Premium diesel and regular diesel are quite similar as they both do not increase in the amount of cetane the diesel has. A way companies can make premium diesel is by adding chemicals that are helpful to the car and to the environment, in the long run; this may reduce the number of breakdowns your car may experience.
A negative of these premium fuels are the premium prices these come along with research shows it is around more than 10 pence extra per litre if you fill the average sized fuel tank (Gibson, 2017). Furthermore, a negative with regular fuels is that if the amount of octane is lower than 95 your car may experience ‘knocking’ which is an engine condition where the fuel does not burn as well as it should so this will result in the car not running properly, Also in certain circumstances the engine could fail by using these low octane fuels however since there is a new British minimum standard of quality for fuels these fuels cannot be sold in Britain they are more commonly found in other countries this can also happen if you put regular petrol or diesel in a car that requires premium petrol or premium diesel. Shell sells different types of fuels such as; Shell unleaded petrol, Shell diesel, Shell V-power unleaded petrol and Shell V-power diesel. Shell sells regular fuels as well as premium fuels, the premium fuels are better than the regular fuels as they have more cleaning power than the regular fuels. In Shell V-power unleaded petrol it contains an ingredient which reduces the amount of friction on the engine also it helps clean the injector valves and the fuel injector nozzles which this helps reduce the “build-up of performance robbing deposits” so in the long run this will clean your car from the inside and allow it to run better and reduce the number of breakdowns you may have (Shell, 2018). In Shell V-power diesel it helps clean the injector valves as well as the fuel injector nozzles in which it would produce the same result as the V-power unleaded petrol. Also, the V-power diesel helps clean the engine (Shell, 2018).
The V-power unleaded petrol and the V-power diesel both contain a new type of technology developed by Shell which is called “DYNAFLEX technology” which helps clean and protect the engine as a result of this technology this will improve the performance and help the engine run better and faster (Shell, 2018). Tesco sells three types of fuels and they are; unleaded petrol, diesel and their own brand of premium unleaded petrol which is called “Momentum99”. Tesco sells “Momentum99” octane fuel which is the only supermarket to sell a fuel that can match a branded fuel companies with the fuel they sell as Tesco regards this as the only premium fuel they have manufactured but compared to some branded fuel companies they don’t offer a premium version of diesel as they believe they already offer a great value and also they say the performance is great as well (Tesco, 2017).
As Tesco doesn’t sell a premium version of diesel this affects around 12. 4 million people if they wanted to purchase Tesco’s version of premium diesel the result is from 2017 so the result will have increased (Davison, 2018). Supermarket fuels and branded fuels are similar in the fact that they have to meet a required British and European quality standard for all fuels the standards are for unleaded EN228 and for diesel EN590. By having this standard this ensures you can get the same grade of fuel from both places and they can mix without anything harmful happening to the car (Allstar Business Solutions Limited, 2018). Another way supermarket fuel is the same as branded fuel companies are with Tesco and how they sell “Tesco Momentum99” which is a premium version of their unleaded fuel which this means it has more additives to keep the car engine clean and improve its performance, this is another way Tesco tries to remain its competition by making premium fuel. Tesco and shell are quite similar in the fact that they both offer a type of reward schemes to kind of subsidise the amount the customers are spending on fuels. They both have a points scheme which the more you spend on fuel the more points you gain which you can use in your next transaction and save money and they also offer money off vouchers which can give you sometimes up to 10p of each litre which can save you a lot of money by purchasing them.
A lot of branded fuel companies and supermarkets are hopping onto this trend as a way of generating more customers to purchase the fuels they sell as people are put off from buying them as the prices at which they sell their premium fuel is expensive for some people. Moreover, another similarity between all the fuels such as unleaded petrol and diesel is that it contains a base fuel and also it contains an additive package. The base fuel is what most companies sell but they add different additive packages to make it their own fuel and the additive package is a secret blend of ingredients that will keep the car’s engine clean and also it helps with the engine cylinders being lubricated (SimpleMotoring. co. uk, 2018). Branded fuel from companies has more additives than supermarket fuels (Allstar Business Solutions Limited, 2018). This is why they can charge a higher price as the fuel is more useful for the car and costs more to produce but sometimes the additives can improve fuel consumption which will then lead to less CO2 being produced so it affects the environment less than the supermarket fuels. Another difference between Shell and Tesco is their premium unleaded fuel “Momentum99” is better than their regular unleaded petrol that Shell sells and it is up to par as the V-power unleaded petrol but it is cheaper than V-power unleaded which is better for the consumers and also it has the same engine cleaning power as V-power unleaded fuel and it has the same miles per gallon as the V-power unleaded petrol (SimpleMotoring. co. uk, 2018).
In conclusion, premium fuels are better than regular fuels as premium fuels have a higher octane rating than regular fuels which means that you use around “3-4. 5 percent” less fuel than regular versions. So this will result in you saving money because if you use less fuel you would not need to fill your tank up as much as you would do with regular fuels. Additionally, By using premium fuels less CO2 is emitted meaning that the environment is not being affected as much as it would with regular fuels, by using the regular fuels around 30 million tonnes more of CO2 is released by burning the regular fuel each year compared with the premium versions (Chu, 2014). On the contrary, premium fuels are only useful in cars that need the fuel because if you do not need to use the fuel in your car you will be spending more money on fuel you do not need as it will not improve the performance of the car as well as it would not even reduce CO2 emissions or the car will not run faster and it would not give you a better mileage than you would normally get if you used regular fuel (TrueCar, 2011). Also if your car requires premium fuel you have to use it because if you do not use it the result of using regular fuel may have an effect on the engine as well as the performance.
