Hello everyone. I am wondering how drastically fuel blends vary from region to region. I never thought much about it until I noticed that I get much more MPG in North Carolina than I do here in Tennessee. Last Fall I took a trip to North Carolina to go visit a friend and I noticed that I get much better gas mileage in North Carolina than I do here in Tennessee. Here in TN I often see around 29 MPG doing mostly highway driving and I have seen as high as 32 MPG, but that only happens here with almost all highway driving and a very light foot.
But after I drove to North Carolina, I noticed that I was getting significantly higher MPG. I went through 4 tanks of gas in the week that I stayed there and I averaged about 37 MPG with my worst tank being 36 MPG (fair amount of traffic) and my best tank was 39 MPG, which is way better than what I am used to getting. I was initially thinking that the higher MPG I was seeing was because the 600 mile highway trip may have cleaned up the engine, but that was not the case since my gas mileage dropped down to the normal high 20's to low 30's as soon as I was back home and I have yet to see that many MPG since then.
I can not think of any other variables that could account for such a large difference. AC usage was not a factor as the weather was not warm enough to need to use it and my driving style was the same as usual. I filled up at the same gas stations I normally do (Shell, BP, and Exxon) and I used 87 octane with Marvel Mystery Oil as I always do.
After that, I started researching fuel blends and I found that there are many different fuel blends used in different regions and I learned one potentially significant difference: MTBE is banned in NC, but it is legal and possibly used here in TN. From the research I did I found that similar to ethanol, MTBE has a lower energy content than gasoline and therefore causes some reduction in MPG compared to pure gasoline. However, I don't see just MTBE reducing my MPG by such a significant amount.
Do any of you know how significant the differences in fuel blends are from region to region? Possibly there are other differences as well that could account for some of the difference in MPG that I experienced? Also, have any of you experienced any differences in MPG between different states/fuel blends?
But after I drove to North Carolina, I noticed that I was getting significantly higher MPG. I went through 4 tanks of gas in the week that I stayed there and I averaged about 37 MPG with my worst tank being 36 MPG (fair amount of traffic) and my best tank was 39 MPG, which is way better than what I am used to getting. I was initially thinking that the higher MPG I was seeing was because the 600 mile highway trip may have cleaned up the engine, but that was not the case since my gas mileage dropped down to the normal high 20's to low 30's as soon as I was back home and I have yet to see that many MPG since then.
I can not think of any other variables that could account for such a large difference. AC usage was not a factor as the weather was not warm enough to need to use it and my driving style was the same as usual. I filled up at the same gas stations I normally do (Shell, BP, and Exxon) and I used 87 octane with Marvel Mystery Oil as I always do.
After that, I started researching fuel blends and I found that there are many different fuel blends used in different regions and I learned one potentially significant difference: MTBE is banned in NC, but it is legal and possibly used here in TN. From the research I did I found that similar to ethanol, MTBE has a lower energy content than gasoline and therefore causes some reduction in MPG compared to pure gasoline. However, I don't see just MTBE reducing my MPG by such a significant amount.
Do any of you know how significant the differences in fuel blends are from region to region? Possibly there are other differences as well that could account for some of the difference in MPG that I experienced? Also, have any of you experienced any differences in MPG between different states/fuel blends?