I was reading some statistics the other day-50% of new cars in France are diesels, and 62% of new cars in Austria are as well. So, I was wondering what was the price differential betweeen the different fuels on some countries, and if the diesel fuel is considerably cheaper, would people buy diesel engine cars more often??
Here in the states, diesel is usually the same price as mid-grade gasoline is (89 octane in the US method, probably 93 octane using the RO method), and is about $.10/gallon more than regular unleaded fuel is. VW is currently the only auto manufacturer that offers a diesel in this market, although every maker of light trucks offers at least 1 diesel motor. Part of this is due to restrictive emissions requirements in some of the states.
So, what is the price differential across the continent?
at the pumps in UK at moment alex diesel is around 4p/litre or 20p/gallon more expensive but its the generally better consumption (maybe 50-55mpg for a diesel as opposed to 30-40mpg for a petrol) that makes it attractive - i never take any notice of petrol prices in mainland europe though so can’t comment
Surprisingly, since the hurricane shortage, gasoline is now some 30 cents more expensive than diesel. I did a rough bit of calculation, and with gas now going for $3.39/gal, that’s about 46p/litre here, with diesel about 42p/litre.
double that for EUROPE and it may rise as the USA has just bought
20ship loads of oil and the barrle in ROTTERDAMM --HOLLAND
stood yesterday at 100 dollars.
i’m not sure if there are figures for this but i have noticed that LPG is more widely available in most of europe than it is in the uk and that biodiesel also seems to be more common than here with some garages in germany investing in signs that advertise they sell biodiesel.
i often buy old car magazines (i mean mags that sell old cars and not old magazines with cars in them before anyone asks for my address to post their old magazines to) and some of the adverts (especially those selling old yanks) make a point of advertising gas converted cars where they can.
brit pete:
double that for EUROPE and it may rise as the USA has just bought
20ship loads of oil and the barrle in ROTTERDAMM --HOLLAND
stood yesterday at 100 dollars.
I’ve heard that oil is being shipped from anywhere at fairly dear prices to keep our east coast supplied. Since the hurricane, pipeline supply has fallen 90% on the east coast, the price of petrol has increased about 40%, and about half of all stations are out of fuel. This didn’t even happen in 1974 during the arab oil embargo. It’s only temporary, I know, but it could be late September before the pipelines get going at full power again.
It’s only temporary, I know, but it could be late September before the pipelines get going at full power again.
The problem is, I never remember the price of fuel at the pumps coming down after a shortage or price hike, This goes back to me riding an off road scooter in the 70,s
The issue of fuel rationing coupons, (never used) in the fuel chrisis.
Things are different here in the US. Aside from the price controls we had back in the 1970’s during the first gas crisis, prices have been pretty much set by supply and demand here. Unlike most European countries, there is no government-owned oil company to provide a fair price point that the others need to adhere closely to. Canada used to have a government-owned company, and every other company priced their fuel prices within 2 cents/litre of what Pero Canada was charging.
We had a mini-crisis back around 1997, and the price went up briefly about 25 cents/gal, but quickly dropped back a month later. Last winter the price went up 40 cents/gal, then dropped back 30 cents a month or 2 later. This week, though, the price went up 85 cents/gallon in 3 days!! BTW, there is now often a 30 cent/gallon difference in prices between vendors on the same corner. That’s something I’ve never seen before.
This one is the IDS - Q8 site (click on the € sign at the bottom of the page), which updates the price of fuel daily. It gives you a chart showing all of the European countries and the fuel prices at the pumps on their sites today.
Not as dear as the UK, but we are only in the EU for the benefits 