Shell comes clean on its new fuels
The energy giant redesigned its fuels to restore engine health for combustion holdouts
ENERGY giant Shell rolled out an improved fuel formulation on Thursday (Apr 6), designed to clean the insides of engines and restore lost efficiency. The company estimates that using the new FuelSave petrol could scrub an engine enough to claw back an extra 300 m from every litre on average, or 15 km from a 50-litre tank.
It works by clearing deposits from fuel injector nozzles and, in some older engine designs, from intake valves, where they are particularly deleterious. It also has additives to reduce friction, and corrosion inhibitors to keep fuel delivery components in fine fettle.
V-Power, the brand’s premium product, contains three times as much of the active ingredients, enough to make the relevant components as clean as new, sometimes after a single tankful. The cheaper 98 and 95 Octane grades, in contrast, can remove 65 per cent of deposits.
Shell said its new diesel can also bring back mileage lost to engine deposits. Its own tests show an extra 19 km from 66 litres.
Additives that clean fuel systems are nothing new – Shell itself has been adding detergents to its petrol since the 1940s – but the energy company said it has had to evolve its formulation because engines themselves have been changing. They are now typically smaller and run hotter, which causes carbon deposits to accumulate.
While it seems counterintuitive for a profit-seeking fuel company to release a product that can make engines use less of it, fuel retailers can grow sales by winning market share from rivals, especially in a market like Singapore, where the car population is fixed.
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Similar thinking prompted Shell to offer quick charging at its fuel stations when drivers began switching to electric vehicles (EVs). “We made a visible jump into EV charging in 2019, when there were 200 to 300 electric cars on the road,” Doong Shiwen, the general manager of Shell Mobility Singapore, told reporters at the launch for FuelSave. “It was a leap of faith.”
Last year, the company won a government tender to roll out some 5,000 EV chargers in HDB car parks. For now, the reformulated FuelSave products suggest that the market for the fuel that feeds combustion engines still has legs, but Shell is hoping to win customers over by making those legs longer.
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