Shell V-Power Fuel Efficiency Analysis

·Objective of The Study:

Oil and gas companies offer a variety of fuel grades to their customers when it comes to gasoline and diesel fuels. For Shell gas stations in Tunisia, they offer gasoline vehicles two types of gasoline: regular unleaded gasoline distinguished by its green colored pump and a premium version of gasoline called Shell V-Power known by its red colored pump.

Premium gasoline fuels are claimed to be more efficient when it comes to fuel consumption and are known to offer a better engine protection compared to regular unleaded gasoline. This is due to the additives that these premium fuels contain which are not found, or found in smaller portions, in regular unleaded gasoline. Given these advantages of premium gasoline, it comes with a higher price.

This study aims to test whether Shell V-Power actually offers a better a fuel efficiency when compared to Shell regular unleaded gasoline and to verify if the fuel economy benefits of Shell V-Power, if they exist, actually offset its extra cost.

For this test, I will be using my car as a test subject and driving through multiple driving and environmental conditions to see the different effects of these conditions on the fuel efficiency returned by the two Shell fuel types.

o Questions to be answered in this analysis:

The main question that I am trying to find an answer for in this study is the following:

– Taking my car as a test subject, does Shell V-Power Gasoline provide an overall better fuel efficiency than Shell Regular Unleaded Gasoline?

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Other questions that I will try to answer as well are:

– What is the impact of temperature and humidity on car fuel consumption? In addition, which fuel type provides a better fuel efficiency at severe conditions (high temperatures and high humidity)?

– How much does driving on bumpy roads and/or driving aggressively affect fuel consumption? Which fuel type performs better in these conditions?

– For each type of gasoline, what is the driving speed sweet spot that provides the best fuel consumption?

·Collecting the Data:

To collect the data required for this study, I had to make sure that my car is well-maintained and will have a stable condition throughout the data collection phase. For this, I did an oil change, replaced air and oil filters, greased the battery poles, checked my tires pressure, coolant level, brake fluid quality and level, tires and brake pads conditions. I kept checking these areas as long as I was collecting the data points to ensure that the MPG values returned after each trip are mostly a result of the fuel type, driving and environmental conditions and not my car condition. In addition, when filling up on gas, I made sure that the gas tank level at the time of the fill-up is at the ¼ level or less and that I alternate between the two types of Shell gasoline with each fill-up operation. I made sure this condition is present so the tank contains at least 75% of one of the fuels after each fill-up.

· Insights Summary:

-Shell Regular Unleaded Gasoline returned a higher overall average MPG of 31.78 compared to the overall average MPG of 30.14 for Shell V-Power Gasoline, making regular gasoline 5.44% more efficient than V-Power gasoline across all the driving and environmental conditions that my car was put through during the data collection phase.

- Regular Unleaded Gasoline proved to be more efficient in most driving conditions (on city and highway roads with aggressive and normal driving styles and on normal road conditions), however, V-Power Gasoline seems to return better MPG values when driving on bumpy roads with a normal driving style.

- MPG values for both gasoline types seemed to increase as temperature increases, which is reasonable, as engines tend to warm up faster hence consuming less fuel in hotter weathers. Regular gasoline, however, returned higher MPG values than those of V-Power across all the temperature range.

- Regular gasoline was more efficient in lower humidity levels, however, V-Power gasoline returned better MPG values in higher humidity levels, which can be explained by the impact of additives (such as demulsifiers) that are more present in V-Power gasoline than in regular unleaded gasoline.

- Overall, the fuel efficiency offered by the V-Power gasoline is not worth the extra cost that comes with it when compared to its regular gasoline counterpart. However, I will be still using V-Power gasoline every now and then to take advantage of the additives it contains that can help clean the engine components, prolong its life and get better fuel efficiency in humid climates.

· What I could have done better:

• Despite collecting trip duration data for each trip, the MPG correlation with trip duration for both types of fuel was not shown in the dashboard. This is due to the lack of data points that reflect trip durations for highway drives for the two types of fuel, which caused an inaccurate depiction of the impact of trip duration on MPG. Moreover, trip duration does directly impact MPG more than it is the case with road condition, driving style and road class. For these reasons, the trip duration graph was not shown.

• Data points for trips on bumpy roads, especially trips with aggressive driving on bumpy roads for both city and highway for the two fuel types were not enough to help create valuable and reliable conclusions and insights. For this reason, further data points collection will be conducted to be able to form reliable insights regarding the impact of these driving conditions on the fuel efficiency of both gasoline types. Same observation goes for trips on highway with aggressive driving style and normal road condition.

*** Any feedback on this work is greatly appreciated. Thanks!**