Today we have a nice summer gasoline on tap with no less than 10 percent. And for those who still have to drive, we have a fresh E5, also summer petrol, but with 0 percent. Yes, from today onwards petrol stations must supply summer quality petrol. This petrol is tailored to the higher temperatures outside the car and has less butane. But what do you notice about that?
Ton Visser of Oiltraining says that there is indeed ‘a few percent less butane’ in the petrol this month and that ‘all other components remain virtually the same’. The energy density of butane is lower than that of gasoline, so on paper your engine should be slightly can walk more powerfully with a tank full of summer gasoline. The question is whether you will notice anything about this.
You don’t see much of it on the test bench
‘But,’ Visser explains, ‘the few percent of butane and the fact that the energy difference per liter is small, this difference will therefore be purely theoretical. That will happen in the daily practice of a director certainly not noticeable are! Even on a test bench, with fixed conditions, this difference will hardly be measurable, let alone in daily practice.’
Also read: What is the difference between summer and winter gasoline?
There are other things that can make you feel like your car runs better in the summer. Erik de Vries of the Dutch Organization of the Energy Industry explains: ‘What also plays a role in the winter is that the tires generally have less pressure due to the cold, which increases rolling resistance and therefore fuel consumption. The roads are also often dirtier and wetter, which has a negative effect on rolling resistance.’
‘Cold air also removes more heat from radiators and other engine parts. On the other hand, many people turn on the air conditioning in the summer, which also causes more energy consumption. What also plays a role is that many new cars nowadays have hybrid engines and the battery provides less performance in colder conditions, which means that the fuel engine has to provide more energy, so in general people experience higher consumption in winter compared to summer. ‘
So what do you think about summer gasoline?
When summer gasoline comes out of the pumps, your car generally runs more efficiently. However, this has nothing to do with the gasoline, but all the things that come with summer. So you won’t notice a thing about the summer gasoline itself.
