ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area gas prices

I just read in the paper a few days ago that premium is close to hitting the $7/gallon mark in the UK, Ireland and the Continent.

In that perspective, $2.35 for premium is pretty cheap.

Peter

It's approx = to $4.40 a US gallon here in France, and stable. High British tax is why I (and 300,000 other Brits) live on this side of the channel!

Peter,

They mey have been talking the British Imperial gallon, in which case $7 per gallon is about right.

1 Imperial gal. = 1.2 U.S. gal.

I don't know about now, but a few years ago gas was quite a bit cheaper in Ireland due to the lower tax. Just about every car boarding the ferry at Dublin for the trip back to Britain had just left the nearest gas station with its tank filled to the brim!

Alan,
Welcome to ECN. Is diesel still way below gasoline prices in France? I think it was about half the price last time I was there.

Diesel is now more expensive than unleaded here. Local Tesco is 84.9p/liter unleaded, 88.9 for diesel.

$2.35 for regular here in SF,CA. $2.65+ Premium. California "butique blend gas", or so they say. Essentially keeps the fart low potentancy until it reaches Chicago.

About two years ago the wife and I went all over Spain, in a fairly large Renault Deisel car, and it was dirt cheap, I cant remember the price. However... One thing we noticed though, was that we did not stop much. i.e. traffic and the regular "Stop'n'go" we are used to in the States was negated by high speed rotories, or so they seemed. So there was some fuel economy we did not expect.

Diesel is about 10% cheaper than regular 95 octane, cheapest fuel is LPG (propane) at around 60 centimes (£0.41p)/litre, but you can't go through the Tunnel with a liquid gas car- (after that fire). There is NO road tax- thats £150 a year saved for a start. As to faster driving, it's not just the roundabouts. Autoroutes (82MPH LEGAL) are all toll, so few trucks and a lot less traffic than Southern England as the railways are very good. Downside is absolute maniac french drivers. Road death rate here is double the UK. Last year, Chirac was begging everyone to drive carefully like the English! Obviously never been on the M25 at 8.30am on a weekday!!!
Alan

Thanks for that ALan. It sounds as though the differential between gazole and essence isn't quite as great as it was.

I didn't realize there was an LPG ban now. I wonder if it includes Calor cylinders in a motorhome?

I heard they abolished the vignette. And thanks to tha highwayman we have in the Chancellor's office, it's just gone up to £170 this year.

e57,

The U.K. highways dept. seems to love rotaries (or "roundabouts" as they are called here), everything from huge 4-lane jobs down to tiny little bumps in the middle of the road that they call "mini-roundabouts." There are towns where you run into one of these things every couple of hundred yards! I actually prefer lights or 4-way stops (the latter don't exist here, by the way).

Getting back on-topic, when I left Nebraska in '96 I was paying $1.10 for regular unleaded. Ain't inflation wonderful?

I grew up in DC. Traffic circles are nothing new to me. Most of the circles in DC have lights on them and the real busy ones have a tunnel under them. It is far from a panacea.

A few years back I had the pleasure of being in Poland.
The drivers there made me fear for my life !!!
Driving a small car made by Fiat called the Maluch it has a rear mounted 2 cylinder supercharged engine and is light as a feather. Just for kicks I tried to lift it and to my surprise I lifted the back end off of the ground fairly easily. I would guess we were going about 50MPH at one point and it felt like we were doing a 100. People flying by you passing you, driving over curbs, you name it. I heard somewhere but am not positive maybe someone can confirm if it is true that Poland has the highest death rate on the roads in Europe.

[This message has been edited by mkoloj (edited 03-29-2005).]

LPG powered vehicles in the Chunnel are TOTALLY banned. Reason; fire. There have been some horrendous tunnel fires in Europe- Mont Blanc 1999; 39 dead. Austria 2001; 155 killed, Kings Cross London; 30 perished. No fatalities in the Chunnel fire due to it being 3 tunnel design. Everyone got into the service tunnel via air-locks. It was a freight only train & the fire was arson. Nearly all UK LPG cars are retro-fit (by who? that's the question) to gasoline engines, & by some quirk of UK law don't need a crash shutoff valve, (mandatory in France/Germany). If the vehicle is dual fuel, most are, only complete removal of the LPG cylinder will allow transit. The Chunnel is an all-rail operation, you drive the car into a wagon and the train takes you through. Caravans and Motorhomes are allowed to carry up to 50kg (110lb.) of LPG, VALVE OFF AT BOTTLE- staff check this on boarding. Coming to Europe? The Chunnel is fast and safe (20 minutes) and no seasickness!. It might only be 22 miles wide but it can get ROUGH ( ask a D-DAY VET ) and 1 1/2 hours on a ferry is plenty of time to lose your breakfast, (twice!) In 2004 it carried 7 million passengers, 2 million cars, 1,3 million trucks and 20 million tons of freight. Car wagons are fire sealed double-deck units. ELECTRICAL ALERT!! The locos are type 92 SCNF/BR electric, 25kv AC overhead single phase- (pantographs can't handle 3 wires) plus they also apparently operate on 750vDC third rail which means locos can operate far away from the Tunnel, being seen as far North as Crewe. Once into the French rail network, SCNF is a gem, even the slow trains are good, but the TGV electric trains are unbelievable. They cruise at 300kph, accelerate smoothe & get there on time. The ride? Just like being at home watching tv. Downside? 180mph looking out of the window and being unable to focus on anything closer than the horizon. PS. Portugal was reckoned to have the highest European road death-rate (lots of 2 wheel scooters?), but Poland, along with a lot of the old Eastern Bloc countries just joined the EU, so who knows?

Went to bed. Woke up. That can't be right, running those trains on 25000vac single phase. Searched the net, sure enough, the locomotives are running on 3 phase synchronous motors. But 25000v will arc 10" at least in the dry, not enough room for 3 wires across the track with allowance for rain surely? Photos of track not clear- can they be carrying converters on board?