Tips: Save on Fuel on Full Tank

Just yesterday fuel pump prices increased by more than 1 peso. It was good thing a day earlier I had our two cars filled their tanks to full. Our SUV's full tank is 75 liters of diesel while a small car was at 43 liters of gasoline. Then it hit me if carrying around the extra weight of the fuel affects my mileage at all. So to satisfy my curiosity and peace of mind, I researched and evaluated if is it worth to get a full tank (to avoid the price increase) versus carrying around extra fuel weight (affecting my fuel consumption).

Here are some information (mostly from the internet)  I have searched to be used for my evaluation:

1. 1 liter of diesel has a weight of 0.851kg or 1.872lb (source: google search)
2. 1 liter of gasoline has a weight of 0.749kg or 1.648lb (source: google search)
3. The study Impact of Vehicle Weight Reduction on Fuel Economy for Various Vehicle Architectures by Ricardo Inc. for The Aluminum Association in 2008 showed that

      a. for a small car a 100-lb weight reduction resulted to 1.7% improvement in fuel economy city driving
      b. for a large SUV a 100-lb weight reduction resulted to 0.9% improvement in fuel economy city driving



 So how does it compute? For example for our SUV, the full tank is 75 liters of diesel which is about
140 lbs. Let's say if I want to remove 100lbs of excess weight driving around MetroManila, I will only fill to 30 liters. With this, my mileage would improve by 0.9%. Let's assume that I would have save 0.9% of my 75 liter full tank which is about 0.75 liters. I would have about 32 pesos per full tank. Compare this versus a price increase of 1 peso and full tank of 75 liters equivalent to 75 pesos saved.

For a small car, filling up to half full will reduce my weight by more than 35 lbs. The equivalent fuel economy improvement is about 0.62%. Now that's equivalent to 12 pesos. Compare this versus a price increase of 1 peso and a full tank of 42 liters equivalent to 42 pesos saved.

Hmm so what's the verdict? I will not definitely drive around MetroManila on a full tank. It will improve my fuel economy saving me at least 1 liter of fuel, helping in the carbon monoxide reduction. I will only fill our cars to full if there are scheduled fuel price increase of more than 50 centavos.

Shell Fuel Nitro

The minute I arrived at home from driving my wife to work, I wanted to write about this new Shell Fuel +Nitro. I am a patron and longtime user of this local petrol fuel brand. If I am not mistaken I have been using their fuel products for more 10 years now. Well just a few days ago, I was running on empty on our Mazda 2 HB. Unfortunately the nearest preferred gasoline station was a bit far and with the traffic, I may not be able to make it. The nearest then was the Shell gas station.

Earlier, Shell has introduced their Shell Fuel Save product. There was a lot of fuzz about it and the fuel you can save. Anyhow, I asked for the Shell Fuel and the attendant offered me the new Shell Fuel Nitro+ where they have a promo at that time. The Shell Fuel Nitro+ was the same  price as the Shell Fuel save. Convinced, I had the car filled with the nitro fuel.  As I drove off, I noticed a quicker acceleration but I disregarded it till today.

It was the usual drive of 24 kilometers of traffic and I am always light on the accelerator I felt this drive today the difference in acceleration on our small hatchback. The engine power and pull is different. With the same light foot on the accelerator pedal, I was speeding up faster. I was delighted and tempted to zoom the Mazda 2 if only there was no heavy traffic. It would be a good experience to try the fuel on long trips. I am sure the difference will be significant. I will try it on next out of town trip. Meanwhile, I recommend you try Shell's Nitro fuel products.

Credit Cards with Fuel Rebates

With soaring fuel prices, I am looking into ways of cutting down fuel expenses.  I have been light on the accelarator pedals, coasting on the roads and scheduling my trips and routes. I also looked into these credit cards with fuel rebates ie BPI Petron-Mastercard and Citibank Shell Visa. 
I prepared a sheet to see  whether one can  really have fuel savings using these cards.

Credit Card	BPI Petron Mastercard	Citi Shell Visa Card
Fuel Rebate	3%	5%
Annual Fee	1,550	1,800
Fuel per year in Peso to be charged to credit to be able to save on Fuel	51,667	36,000
Fuel per month in Peso to be charged to credit to be able to save on Fuel	4,306	3,000
Savings per month if fuel per month is at 5000pesos	21	100
Savings per month if fuel per month is at 6000pesos	51	150
Savings per month if fuel per month is at 10000pesos	171	350

Here are my findings:

1. You have higher rebates with Citibank Shell Visa however the annual fee is higher thank BPI Petron Mastercard
2. You have to pay annual fees which reduces your "fuel cost savings".
3. For you to be able to realize savings on fuel cost/rebates, your fuel expenses charged to your credit card should be more than 5,000pesos.  Also you should have full payment every month on your credit card to avoid charges.

If you are going to use these credit cards for the fuel rebates and your fuel expense is not above 5000pesos, you are better off using your regular credit card or cash payment.