Sent a e-mail to Valero (largest refiner in the USA) about detergents in their gas grades and got a straight-forward expanation of their position....
Does Valero Premium Unleaded contain more detergents than the regular grade? Does the detergent quantity just "meet" EPA requirements, or exceed them? Thanks
Thanks for being our customer. Great question! Premium contains the same amount as regular and midgrade. We target 110% of the EPA requirement, but do not make claims that it is better. Nearly all of the fuel we sell is 10% Ethanol, which boosts the octane even though we try to compensate for it.
We are cautious about spiking fuel to top tier, which is usually 2 X the EPA requirements. The reason being there is little research data supporting "no harms" on engines with over additized ethanol blended fuel at this time. We cannot justify the cost of top tier status, since only a small percentage of customers will actually benefit. Top tier of any over additized fuel only really benefits high performance engines.
Does Valero Premium Unleaded contain more detergents than the regular grade? Does the detergent quantity just "meet" EPA requirements, or exceed them? Thanks
Thanks for being our customer. Great question! Premium contains the same amount as regular and midgrade. We target 110% of the EPA requirement, but do not make claims that it is better. Nearly all of the fuel we sell is 10% Ethanol, which boosts the octane even though we try to compensate for it.
We are cautious about spiking fuel to top tier, which is usually 2 X the EPA requirements. The reason being there is little research data supporting "no harms" on engines with over additized ethanol blended fuel at this time. We cannot justify the cost of top tier status, since only a small percentage of customers will actually benefit. Top tier of any over additized fuel only really benefits high performance engines.