Being a highly complex fuel, diesel fuel’s chemical structure changes from the time it leaves the refinery to the time it is pumped into holding tanks and fuel station to the time it gets pumped into the vehicle. Oxidization and structural changes occur in the fuel molecules. The energy per unit volume of the fuel can change during this phase, and this is what will cause your engine to have poor performance.

To combat the effects of fuel degradation and increase the fuel’s cetane value (discussed in detail below), the right type and ratio of fuel additives have to be used. Among a myriad of benefits, the engine will be able to obtain more power from a gallon of fuel.

Diesel fuel has more energy per gallon as compared to gasoline. The three types of diesel fuel are 1D, 2D, and a combination of the two. The lighter grade is 1D, and it offers less energy than 2D. It is more commonly used to reduce, if not eliminate, the gelling of fuel during cold winter climates; some people combine it with 2D.

The cetane rating denotes the diesel fuel’s ignition quality. The higher the rating, the easier the fuel burns evenly and the more power is produced. The average diesel fuel is at the 40-cetane level. Large diesel trucks and diesel pickup trucks prefer a cetane rating in the 45- to 50- level; this is considered as the premium diesel. However, this is not a general categorization-that is, the state’s regulations will dictate at which cetane rating is diesel fuel considered premium.

You should check with the fuel station with regard to the cetane ratings of the fuel they are selling. The higher the cetane rating, the better the drivability as well as reduced emissions. Moreover, the driver of the vehicle can feel the change in power (for the better).

Choosing the right diesel fuel additive can assure you that the diesel fuel will perform at its maximum because of its optimum quality. Here are some of the effects of a good quality diesel fuel additive:

- Reduces Cylinder Wear:

It neutralizes acids during combustion. It minimizes the wear of the acidic cylinder and it reduces the rate of engine oil depletion; thus, maintaining the quality of the engine oil for better protection.

- Minimizes Soot Loading:

It cleans fuel injectors and piston rings for better combustion and sealing. This reduces soot loading, controls soot-related wear, and increases engine oil viscosity.

- Stabilizes Fuel:

Fuel degradation increases deposits, which can promote the plugging of filter. The additive improves oxidation and thermal stability of the diesel fuel.

- Improves Fuel Economy:

It cleans dirty injectors as it improves the acceleration and restores horsepower, and in the long run it will enhance performance.

- Improves Water Tolerance:

An alcohol-free additive protects fuel systems against water contamination, helping to prevent emulsions. It also protects the metal against rust.

To combat the increasing diesel fuel prices, you can consider using a diesel fuel additive and experience the change in your expenses as well as the drivability of your vehicle.

An electric car is one type of an alternative vehicle. It makes use of electricity as its primary power source. Instead of an internal combustion engine, the electric car, also commonly called as an EV or electric vehicle, has an electric motor to make the vehicle move. It is an alternative fuel vehicle that does not use refined fossil oil for fuel.

Electric cars get electricity for power by means of electric battery packs built on board. One of the advantages of using electric vehicles or EV’s is that they are environmentally friendly. Unlike fossil fuel that emits a number of pollutants into the air when being used, the use of electricity for power does not do so, except that the power plants that may produce them do. But with using electric cars, the emission of harmful pollutants may be reduced substantially. Less cars using fossils fuel and gasoline would help make this possible. And someday, when more electric power is sourced from nuclear, solar, wind and hydro-electric power plants, pollutant emissions will even be reduced more.

Performance-wise, electric cars offer smoother and noiseless operation that cars relying on gasoline. Electric cars provide stronger acceleration and the electric motor requires lesser maintenance than the internal combustion engines of cars using gasoline and other fossil fuels. By using electricity through batteries, energy conversion is more efficient. Electric motors makes use of 75 percent of the chemical energy converted into electricity to run the car. Internal combustion engines or ICE’s only are able to make use about 20 percent of the energy stored in gasoline to power the vehicle.

If most think that the electric car is a recent invention, then they are mistaken. The electric vehicle is in fact one of the earliest vehicles known to exist. Small electric powered vehicles even predate the development of the diesel and gasoline engines. The earliest electric carriage was built between 1832 and 1839. The development of other electric cars also increased for some time during the 1860′s along with the improvement of the storage battery. It was even the electric cars that held many of the speed and distance records during this time. But unfortunately, the advent of the internal combustion engines came during the early 1900′s, which led to the decrease in the use of electric cars.

With the appearance of the more powerful and affordable diesel and gasoline powered cars starting in the early 1900′s, the market for electric cars slowly disappeared. Although there were still electric cars being made, those that do exist were being produced for specialized applications. One of the most common use for the electric vehicle today may be found in the golf carts as a primary mode of compact transport in golf courses. But because of the rising gasoline prices as well as the worsening pollution, there has been an renewed demand for the less polluting alternative electric vehicles in recent years.

For so long now, most countries have been dependent on fossil fuel such as gasoline and crude oil to provide the power for industries as well a majority of the transportation needs of the people. It is a fact that most cars running in today’s streets have either gasoline or diesel as fuel. It has been the same situation for several decades now. This dependence on fossil fuel to move the gears of industry and the society makes crude oil exert quite an influence on the economy, lifestyle as well as the future of many countries.

The influence is far reaching. Fossil fuel accounts for a majority of the energy and power needs of countries all over the world. Without it, countries may suddenly fall into chaos. And such events may likely happen in the near future as crude oil supply gets scarce while the demand for it still grows. Fossil fuel such as crude oil is not a renewable resource. At some point in the future, it may run out.

The concern over crude oil someday running out in a world hungry for more and more energy has worried many world leaders as well as future planners. And for this reason, many are trying to preach better fuel economy through research and technology. Aside from looking for alternative sources of fuel to replace fossil fuel in the future, better fuel economy may seem to be the most effective idea to practice in today’s world.

Better fuel economy simply means a better and more improved use of fuel resources to get the most out of it. If being practiced on a worldwide scale, it can help provide a number of benefits- both from a global and individual standpoint. Here are some of those main benefits.

For one better fuel economy translates to money saved. Better use of fuel can help save individuals money in terms of reduced fuel costs. Doing so would mean using more fuel efficient cars, better fuel variety as well as a handful of other factors.

Not only that, fuel economy can also help conserve the resources that the world may still have left. Since fossil fuels are non-renewable resources, it is important that the world learns how to use it more wisely to help avert a possible energy crisis in the future. With fossil fuel such as gasoline still a major and primary energy source for many countries learning to work together to improve general fuel economy can help fossil fuel supply last even a little longer.

Even fuel economy can help protect the environment. Use of fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel fuels aside from other crude oil byproducts have resulted in pollutants emitted into the atmosphere. This has resulted in a polluted environment that may take decades to clean up. But with better fuel economy, these fuels can be burned and used more efficiently and in a way that lesser and lesser pollutants are made to escape into the atmosphere and harm the environment in general. This aside from fuel economy being the most logical option to deal with the high gasoline prices of today.

As the sudden rise in gasoline prices have made people become more concerned, it would also be very important to know about the different factors that give rise to such increases in the first place. There are four main elements that affect the pricing of gasoline in the retail market, primary of which is the price of crude oil in the world market.

Crude oil is the initial raw material from where gasoline is refined and derived from. Crude oil, a majority of it, is sourced and supplied from Middle East countries. It is these countries that have control over the price of crude oil in the world market. Countries that get their crude oil supply from these oil producing countries are the most affected by the sudden increase in crude oil prices. Overall, crude oil pricing affects about 75 percent of the price tag for gasoline in the retail market.

Refining costs also can affect gasoline pricing. Different countries as well as areas have certain regulations when it comes to the gasoline products that they acquire fro the retailers. Some places require less polluting gasoline than others. Some have higher standards than others. This usually means that the refining process for gasoline may be different from those following less stringent standards. Although this may prove to be helpful in some sense, added refining requirements can also be considered as additional costs for gasoline. The costs are eventually passed on to the consumers in the guise of higher gasoline prices.

Aside from the price of crude oil and refining costs, distribution costs also account for a great deal of the retail price of gasoline in the market. Aside from shipping and overseas transport costs, distributing gasoline to the different gasoline stations in the area may also account for the retail price of the gasoline. Some areas may have some difficulties obtaining their gasoline supply due to distance as well as accessibility while some have it easy because of being in close proximity to major gas depots. It is through this that gas prices may also differ from one area to another. Distribution also affects the gasoline retail price.

Taxes on gasoline also may affect how the product may be priced on the retail market. Different countries follow different sets of taxation for crude oil as well as gasoline. There are national as well as local taxes to contend with when it comes to gasoline. Some places have lower taxes put on gasoline as compared to others. But these places have something in common in that these taxes affect gasoline prices a great deal. The higher the taxes placed on crude oils products and byproducts such as gasoline, the higher the price tag would be when it finally arrives in the retail market. Controlling the taxes put on gasoline may be a way to bring gasoline prices down to some extent. But they are not the only answer to an eventual reduction in gas prices

And with the move to look for alternative sources of transportation, many researchers have begun looking into other forms of alternative fuels in order to run future vehicles. One of the most attractive and in fact the most appealing concept provided is the use of hydrogen to run cars. It would only be time before hydrogen cars would be used as the primary transport in the streets. Btu what exactly is it?

A hydrogen car is a relatively new type of transport vehicle that uses hydrogen as its primary on-board fuel. The hydrogen car is different from conventional vehicles in that it uses a different type of engine to make the vehicle move. There are two ways that this can be made possible.

There is one type of hydrogen car can be powered by the burning of hydrogen fuel, much like what happens with a gasoline engine. The hydrogen engine is actually a modified version of the traditional gasoline internal combustion engine. The process used in running both may generally be the same- the force of burning hydrogen provides the explosive power that makes the engine produce mechanical power to make the car move.

A noticeable benefit that a hydrogen powered vehicle provides is that it makes use of a cleaner fuel source for power. This means that using hydrogen as fuel allows lesser polluting substances and chemicals being emitted into the atmosphere. In fact, the hydrogen car concept has been realized because researchers have been looking for a cleaner alternative fuel to be used in the future to replace crude oil. And apparently, hydrogen fits the bill quite nicely.

Another type of hydrogen car being develop today makes use of the hydrogen fuel cell for power instead of a specialized internal combustion engine. In this set-up, the hydrogen is used to provide and generate electrical power that can be used to run the car’s electric motor. This way emissions are totally avoided unlike a car using an internal combustion engine (ICE) running on hydrogen.

Although the use of hydrogen fuel cells is being eyed to have the best potential to power hydrogen cars of the future, the plan may still face certain obstacles. One, hydrogen fuel cells are too expensive to produce using current technology. Not only that, hydrogen fuel cells also tend to be very fragile and sensitive to vibrations and sudden movements. Engineers today are still trying to come up with a design and develop a type of hydrogen fuel cell that can be strong enough to withstand the vibrations frequent bumps that normally comes with traveling by car. And at the same time, there would be a need for a better and more affordable technology to build the hydrogen fuel cells to make them more affordable to consumers.

But despite the challenges still posed on the development of the hydrogen car, its future still remains very bright. What especially makes hydrogen cars so attractive is that hydrogen is a renewable energy resource. This is unlike fossil fuels which will run out sooner or later and may cause even more serious rise in gasoline prices. The hydrogen car proves to be a more logical alternative to a world looking for a means to move away from too much dependence on fossil fuel.

However, these are just projections; hence, there is no assurance or guarantee because it can be greatly affected by the instability and unpredictability of the prices of crude oil and petroleum products. Among the many factors that affect the prices, below are the main ones that are faced by United States, especially the West Coast countries:

The Effect of Sulfur on Prices

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for diesel fuel sulfur content can also alter the prices for diesel fuel. What needs to be taken into consideration is the logistics of delivery of the Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) fuel to retail service stations. Most of these products are transported via pipelines to reach the bulk terminals then to tanker trucks then finally to the retail stations. Contamination may happen to the ULSD fuel because these pipelines, storage, and local distribution systems also serve to deliver other diesel fuels and petroleum products, which have higher sulfur content. If a batch of ULSD fuel gets contaminated, it might not be an option to mix it with additional low-sulfur product to bring back its sulfur content to the original level. The contaminated batch has to be returned to get reprocessed in a refinery, and this solution is a difficult and expensive one. More so, the production of ULSD fuel entails a big expense to begin with. So any problems that might arise along the way with regard to delivery will just add up to the expense.

Geography and Taxes

Another factor that affects the prices of diesel fuel in the United States is the geography. West Coast countries have generally higher prices than the other parts of the country. This holds true especially for California because of the taxes and issues on the supply. These countries add more tax-that is, they combine the state and local taxes, and add another tax value on top of the federal excise tax and state tax. Washington is one of the countries that have the highest tax.

Geography and Relief Supplies

The West Coast countries also have higher prices for diesel fuel because they have relatively fewer supply sources. Because majority of the refineries in this region are located in California, a single refinery that encounters difficulties in operations will greatly affect the diesel supply. In turn, this may elevate the prices because there will be fewer supply to meet the high demand. More so, the West Coast is very far from the Gulf Coast and other foreign refineries-that is, any fluctuation on supply-demand will generally result in price fluctuation because it will take some time to transport relief supplies to these countries. The farther the relief supplies are, the higher the diesel fuels prices will be and the longer it will remain at such price.

Elements of Worth

There are several basic elements that determine the worth of a gallon of diesel. About sixty percent of the cost of diesel reflects the price of crude oil, which is raw material for diesel production. Crude oil is purchased from oil producing countries and subsequently brought to refineries where the ultra-low sulfur diesel, among other petroleum products, is extracted. Given a barrel of crude, a refinery will be able to distill about one tenth of a barrel of diesel. Refining accounts for nearly twenty percent of diesel fuel cost.

The remaining elements of the cost of diesel fuel are government taxes and the expense of marketing and distribution. A ten percent excise tax is levied onto all fuel products that are manufactured in the country. Although foreign fuel avoids this, it is generally cheaper to buy locally refined fuel as import taxes generally translate to higher unit price. Marketing and distribution only makes up five percent of total diesel fuel cost, but this can often be the most volatile factor affecting the value of diesel fuel.

Origins of Increase

Basically, the price of everything is dependent on supply and demand. If supply is low and demand is high, prices will go up. If supply is plentiful, the price will stay steady, and may even decrease when demand wanes.

Crude oil supply is dependent on oil producing countries, so anything that disrupts their production activities, like wars or economic embargoes, will drive the price of both world crude and diesel up. Refining costs are generally pretty stable, but both local and foreign companies compete for refined fuel. If the demand of foreign countries for the diesel produced by local refineries increases, this can ultimately result in elevated fuel costs.

The most unstable factor that affects diesel fuel is undoubtedly local marketing and distribution. Diesel fuel is in such high and constant demand that fuel stockpiles are generally pretty shallow. This means that if there is a sudden spike in fuel consumption, the warehoused supply will not be enough and this will drive the price of fuel up. Another factor is distance; consumers close to refineries tend to pay less because they avoid transportation costs. Local competition also plays an important role in regulating fuel prices.

Control Stems from Understanding

World supply and demand, international politics, economic pressures, all of these play interrelated roles in the cost of fuel. Though they seem beyond the comprehension of the non-economist layman, it all really boils down to supply and demand, and this is something anyone can understand. Saving fuel and lowering consumption is not only good for the environment; it decreases demand, and ultimately, cost. Programs which promote peace and goodwill among nations do not only make a better world; they result in less disruption of supply lines, and again, decrease fuel costs.

The factors that affect diesel fuel prices seem complex, but an understanding of the basic principles can empower the individual consumer. Unsurprisingly, it would seem that doing the right thing really is the right thing to do.

What people do not realize is that the pattern shifts. During the summer, people tend to use their vehicles for vacations; this in turn increases the cost of gasoline. During the winter, people tend to stay at home and generate a high demand for heating oil; this in turn increases the cost of diesel fuel. The correlation between heating oil and diesel is that they are similar fuel and that the price of the heating oil tends to set a floor for diesel.

The widening spread between the prices of diesel fuel and gasoline is partly due to the lull in the demand for gasoline, which can be attributed to high prices and soft economy. If people would just increase their consumption as rapidly as before, then the prices of gasoline would be higher. In return, the spread between the prices of diesel fuel and gasoline will not be as wide as it is now.

Increasing Global Demand

There is an increasing demand for diesel fuel worldwide-that is, in the United States, Europe, China, and India. In Europe, more vehicles with diesel engines were sold in the past few years. More than 50 percent of new registrations for 2007 were diesel-consuming vehicles. In India, the same trend applies: the numbers of new vehicles sold have doubled in five years, and 30 percent of which is diesel-powered. This percentage is projected to reach 50 percent by 2010. In China, the increasing demand for diesel fuel is in direct proportion with its economy. With them hosting the Olympics plus the earthquake that hit them recently, higher demand for diesel fuel is foreseen to avoid interruptions and to run heavy equipment and emergency generators.

Environmental Restrictions

The shift to ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel in the United States is an ongoing project since 2006. Its goal is to apply this standard to all on-highway diesel fuel by December 2010. There are also standards for off-highway diesel fuel such as fuel for generators, construction machinery, and marine use. This drastic change is an expensive process altogether as it will target the production of all diesel fuel, which in turn has affected the selling price of diesel fuel. A projection has it that this expensive process would require refiners to invest a large amount of money, and this will make them increase the prices of diesel fuel between 2007 and 2011. Moreover, a production bottleneck will probably result in higher price spikes.

Higher Federal Taxes

The tax for diesel fuel is higher than the tax for gasoline. And naturally, the higher the tax, the higher will be the price at the pump. This has been the trend for several years, and this is the explanation why diesel has sold for an average of 1.3 percent more than gasoline over a specific period of time.

There are more factors affecting diesel fuel prices. Having an understanding how the pricing works will help you find ways to go around the soaring prices. And with this knowledge, you can have a grasp of the trends and create your own projection to aid your budget planning.

Whenever there are supply disruptions of crude oil in the world market, it would greatly affect retail gasoline prices. If there is an event that slows down or a stop in production among crude oil producing countries, the lack of supply would send the crude oil price up. And as the demand greatly increases due to crude oil being an essential ingredient for various industries, the rise in prices will trickle down into gasoline with crude oil being its raw material.

Other things that might affect retail prices of gasoline include its availability and distance from supply. In areas where gasoline supply has to travel very long distances, there is a likelihood that prices for it may be higher than in areas in close proximity to the gasoline supply. From the refineries, gasoline has to go through a series of transport hubs before it finds its way into the retail stations.

There are usually ports to go through as well as miles and miles of inland pipelines where it eventually reaches a main depot. From this depot, the gasoline may then be transported to the different gas stations by means of distribution trucks. With the distribution process this complex, having the gasoline supply far away from a certain gas station may eventually affect how its retail price may be formulated.

Aside from distance from supply, retail prices of gasoline may also be affected by environmental programs and local regulations being followed in a certain area. There are certain areas, countries or states that require gasoline to be specially formulated to meet up with certain local standards. This is usually done in order to protect the environment.

Certain regulations require that refined gasoline be further reformulated in order to help reduce pollutants to be released into the air. This might require adding up certain chemicals in order to help reduce carbon monoxide emissions as well as other pollutants when gasoline is being burned. In order to meet up with certain regulations of certain states and countries, such processes must be additionally performed and therefore may add up into the retail cost of the reformulated gasoline.

Another big factor of retail gasoline prices being different from one area to another is because of competition. Whenever there are quite a number of retail gas stations to choose from in a certain area, the likelihood of gasoline prices being cheaper there is high. The primary reason is, of course competition. With many retail gas stations trying to share the local market with other retail stations, getting customers attracted is important. The most effective way to do this is by trying to offer cheaper gas prices than the competitor.

In an area having just a few gas retail stations available, the gasoline prices would tend to be higher. The reason for this is that the demand would still be a bit greater with only a few retail stations able to provide the supply. In some cases, the consumer may be made to choose- whether to buy cheaper gasoline to a retail station location many miles away or buy gas from a nearer station offering more expensive gasoline prices.

The increase in the base price levels of both gasoline and diesel fuel has been primarily driven by the worldwide increase in crude oil prices. Crude oil is the basic ingredient from where different forms of fuels are derived from.

However, there are three particular reasons why the demand for diesel fuel have increased over time, the first being increasing demand, the second being the slackening demand for gasoline, and third being new environmental restrictions on gasoline.

First, there has been an increasing demand all over the world for diesel because of the increase in number of diesel-powered engines. In years when gasoline prices soared over diesel prices, car manufacturers produced cheaper diesel-powered vehicles in order to capture the market of consumers who wanted to save on gasoline prices. However, the fact that these diesel-powered vehicles have outsold gasoline-powered ones has obviously caused more people demanding diesel fuel to run their engines. This trend is true not only in the United States, but also in China, Europe, and India. With a limited supply of diesel fuel produced annually, increases in demand causes the price to distort upward.

In addition, the relative increase of prices of diesel fuel products have made gas prices appear much cheaper, especially with less people choosing to buy gasoline. Increasing consumption of diesel fuel has driven up its prices, whereas a near steady to decreasing consumption of gasoline has led to its price to remain stable, if not decreasing as well over time. This increases the relative price gap between the two.

Lastly, government legislation has caused the regulation that requires the reduction of sulphur content in diesel from 500 million parts per gallon to 15 parts per gallon. The process of reducing sulphur in diesel to this extent will cause greater expense in refining and producing retail-ready diesel fuel for consumption. In the year 2006, the goal was to have 80% of motorist traffic complying with this ordinance; by 2010, 100% of diesel available in the market must comply. As with all industries, the cost of additional stages of processing will be levied on the final retail prices of diesel fuels, causing a greater increase in prices above the already significant impact that high demand has on it.

When looking at diesel prices, it is important to appreciate what drives the increases in prices, and even the standards for when people say prices have increased. For the latter, the relative increase in diesel prices in conjunction to the relative stability or decrease of gasoline prices has increased the perception of more expensive diesel prices. The drivers for increases in diesel fuel prices, however, remain to be that of increasing demand for the limited supply of diesel fuel, as well as costly processing of diesel in order for it to comply with environmental standards.