Fuel price discussion thread (was ‘chaos’)

lordrobs said:
Anyway... a more useful comparison of 65 mph against my usual cruising speed over the distance of my actual journey gives a time difference of a more substantial 37 minutes.

As for the efficiency of my car at 55 or 60 mph that is pretty irrelevant as I don't want to spend hours of my life sandwiched between 44 Ton trucks who seem to think that their braking distance is 1/3 of that of a car.

Apologies for the off topic...
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I'll put some figures for you then to look at which figures reflecting the costs.

If at 70mph you get 50 mpg, then 300 miles costs £42 at £7 per gallon.
If at 60mph you get 60 mpg, then 300 miles costs £35 at £7 per gallon.

Travelling 10mph (70 vs 60) slower for every 100 miles is 15 minutes, and using the 300 miles above that is 45 min extra travel time with £7 saved, or about £9.33 per hour assuming fuel prices don't go up. I'm not suggesting going 60 mph just an illustration of the cost vs earning ratio, as fuel prices go up that difference goes up.

***If you input real figures then you'll get a good idea of what the per hour price you are paying.***

You can do the maths for 75-80mph.
 
I doubt the difference in travel time will even be that high in the real world, even at 70 it’s incredibly rare to be able to maintain that speed for any length of time outside of the middle of the night because of other traffic and there is zero chance at above that speed.

The constant slowing and speeding up will further impact your efficiency.

So yes, that’s the most time you’ll get back theoretically but in reality it will be much less.
 
Journey said:
I'll put some figures for you then to look at which figures reflecting the costs.

If at 70mph you get 50 mpg, then 300 miles costs £42 at £7 per gallon.
If at 60mph you get 60 mpg, then 300 miles costs £35 at £7 per gallon.

Travelling 10mph (70 vs 60) slower for every 100 miles is 15 minutes, and using the 300 miles above that is 45 min extra travel time with £7 saved, or about £9.33 per hour assuming fuel prices don't go up. I'm not suggesting going 60 mph just an illustration of the cost vs earning ratio, as fuel prices go up that difference goes up.

***If you input real figures then you'll get a good idea of what the per hour price you are paying.***

You can do the maths for 75-80mph.
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The problem is that there is no reliable way to determine what your actual cruising economy is for any given speed. You would need decent length stretch of road, no traffic and the exact same weather conditions to get a result and even then for the average motorist you are reliant on the instantaneous fuel economy reading which is erratic at best in my Leon (I have that particular screen switched off now as it is effectively pointless).

I can only go on total trip economy and general trends and I have no idea what the difference between 60 and 70 is in my car as I simply never drive 10 mph below the speed limit unless conditions dictate otherwise.

Looking at it in terms of "price per hour" is an interesting one and I'm not really sure what that is meant to lead me to think? Over the course of a working week if I can gain myself extra hours of free time at £9.33 a pop then that sounds like a great deal!

b0rn2sk8 said:
I doubt the difference in travel time will even be that high in the real world, even at 70 it’s incredibly rare to be able to maintain that speed for any length of time outside of the middle of the night because of other traffic and there is zero chance at above that speed.

The constant slowing and speeding up will further impact your efficiency.

So yes, that’s the most time you’ll get back theoretically but in reality it will be much less.
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This is true. TBH on long journeys the psychological impact of feeling like you are going backwards with a constant stream of traffic going past you is far greater than the actual time lost to travelling slower.

In traffic I'm usually pretty good at blending my speed to the conditions rather than coming up to slower vehicles then slowing down. The people who seem to constantly have their brake lights flashing on the motorway simply baffle me.
 
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Journey said:
Just reading a article that oil prices are predicted to hit $146 within 14-21 days if this continues, and fuel prices in will follow in tow, with a predication that Petrol will hit £1.77+ a litre by the end of March. If it goes the other way an things calm down, then the sanctions that are still in place will still cause the prices to stay where they are at best, or slowly get worse due the EU based countries distancing themselves from Russia even further.

Basically don't expect fuel to drop below £1.50 per litre in the near future, if at all.
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I read a piece yesterday which states the expected price of fuel could reach £2.50 per litre by the end of the year. That will devastate the economy. Inflation will shoot past 10% and people will really start and feel the pinch of doing any kind of travelling.

I had hoped that HVO fuel might come into its own now. Historically last year it was always 20p per litre more than diesel but rang our fuel supplier today to enquire about the HVO price to see if it was now cheaper than diesel and was informed the HVO price is and will always remain diesel price plus 20p as "thats the market rates". Somebody is going to be making obscene profit on HVO fuel atm. It wont cost anymore to make that last month but is basically on a derv price tracker.
 
Greebo said:
I read a piece yesterday which states the expected price of fuel could reach £2.50 per litre by the end of the year. That will devastate the economy. Inflation will shoot past 10% and people will really start and feel the pinch of doing any kind of travelling.

I had hoped that HVO fuel might come into its own now. Historically last year it was always 20p per litre more than diesel but rang our fuel supplier today to enquire about the HVO price to see if it was now cheaper than diesel and was informed the HVO price is and will always remain diesel price plus 20p as "thats the market rates". Somebody is going to be making obscene profit on HVO fuel atm. It wont cost anymore to make that last month but is basically on a derv price tracker.
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Yeah, it isn't looking good for 2022 out of the pan and into the fire it seems.
 
The impact of speed on fuel consumption is probably more apparent for higher efficiency ev's, vs ICE, where you can make the trade-off of increased consumption/reduced autonomy and more frequent stops; their EMS showing 'instantaneous' energy consumption should make cost of 80mph versus 60mph easy to see.

- How accurate are ICE fuel calculations, can you travel a mile at 60&80 and see the difference ? (are their estimates from ideal flow through injectors accurate)
 
lordrobs said:
As for the efficiency of my car at 55 or 60 mph that is pretty irrelevant as I don't want to spend hours of my life sandwiched between 44 Ton trucks who seem to think that their braking distance is 1/3 of that of a car.

Apologies for the off topic...
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It probably is, guessing you don't realise how short a distance a truck can stop.
 
The reality of driving 60mph on the motorway these days is that you are passing more people than are passing you by a good margin, that or you are breaking the variable speed limit. There's no truth to being sandwiched between trucks.
 
robj20 said:
It probably is, guessing you don't realise how short a distance a truck can stop.
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I have no idea. I do have a fair idea of how I'd come out if I was to be nailed by one though and I don't appreciate being tailgated at the best of times, it's even more of a **** move when the outcome is potentially so grim for the innocent party.
Clarkey said:
The reality of driving 60mph on the motorway these days is that you are passing more people than are passing you by a good margin, that or you are breaking the variable speed limit. There's no truth to being sandwiched between trucks.
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I disagree but we all drive different locations at different times so your experience is likely to be different to mine.

An indicated 60 mph is going to put you within spitting distance of a HGV's 56mph limiter so I can't see how you aren't likely to end up spending considerably more time in the company of HGV's at that speed.
 
Clarkey said:
The reality of driving 60mph on the motorway these days is that you are passing more people than are passing you by a good margin, that or you are breaking the variable speed limit. There's no truth to being sandwiched between trucks.
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What motorway are you driving on
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
I doubt the difference in travel time will even be that high in the real world, even at 70 it’s incredibly rare to be able to maintain that speed for any length of time outside of the middle of the night because of other traffic and there is zero chance at above that speed.

The constant slowing and speeding up will further impact your efficiency.

So yes, that’s the most time you’ll get back theoretically but in reality it will be much less.
Click to expand...

Not to mention pesky traffic lights that once you catch one you catch them all. That'll add some serious delay to your journey even if you were able to maintain a prior high speed.
 
Greebo said:
I read a piece yesterday which states the expected price of fuel could reach £2.50 per litre by the end of the year. That will devastate the economy. Inflation will shoot past 10% and people will really start and feel the pinch of doing any kind of travelling.

I had hoped that HVO fuel might come into its own now. Historically last year it was always 20p per litre more than diesel but rang our fuel supplier today to enquire about the HVO price to see if it was now cheaper than diesel and was informed the HVO price is and will always remain diesel price plus 20p as "thats the market rates". Somebody is going to be making obscene profit on HVO fuel atm. It wont cost anymore to make that last month but is basically on a derv price tracker.
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I know people who literally won't be able to afford to get to work if it goes to £2.5/litre - I'll probably have to do more journeys in something more economical as well really.
 
No shortages whatsoever in London (Despite the media try to tell motorists otherwise :rolleyes: ) but E5 99 RON is now 176.7p Litre! it keeps climbing not sure when its going to end & filling up now or whenever is not going to save anyone anything as its going to keep climbing for some time to come!
 
It's not sustainable.

The government will have to do something otherwise people won't get to work.

Around 55% of the total price is tax/duty.

If the gov reduced that, it would become more affordable.
But they won't.

Also, the price of shipping anything will skyrocket.
 
Diagro said:
It's not sustainable.

The government will have to do something otherwise people won't get to work.

Around 55% of the total price is tax/duty.

If the gov reduced that, it would become more affordable.
But they won't.

Also, the price of shipping anything will skyrocket.
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They wont do anything, for some reason people seem to think the price of fuel is down to greedy retailers and anyway dirty polluting fuels are becoming more expensive, we wont be making them cheaper ever again.
 
Diagro said:
It's not sustainable.

The government will have to do something otherwise people won't get to work.

Around 55% of the total price is tax/duty.

If the gov reduced that, it would become more affordable.
But they won't.

Also, the price of shipping anything will skyrocket.
Click to expand...

If it does get to a point where price per litre becomes unaffordable for most people, then they'd have to do some temporary reprieve on the taxation part
 
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