Best type of gas for Prime?

I had been looking for discussions regarding the use of stabilizer and have also only had to consider using it in the past since we buy gas for our lawn mower five gallons at a time... which would be enough for two-plus mowing seasons. When our five gallon container gets down to about two gallons, we pour THAT into our car, and then get fresh for the mower and add stabilizer again. So thanks for having asked about it here on Prius Chat AND for the answer/s. In the meantime, I've found the Prime owner's manual on line and will also be looking into that to see if Toyota has included specific info / advice about "fuel burn off" and the use of gasoline stabilizer....

 

In short, pondering the best strategy to simultaneously keep the gas I pump fresh, and also minimize otherwise-pointless trips to the gas station.

On the one extreme, I could minimize trips to the gas station by doing a full-tank fill-up once every six months, say, but the gas would go stale long before that, and the P.Prime will probably do a purge burn on it before then anyway.

On the other extreme, if I want to maximize gasoline freshness, I could continue to go the gas station once a week, and only pump a gallon or so. I certainly don't want to do that, because it defeats some of the value in having a PHEV.

So, I'm thinking pumping 2-3 gallons once a month might be a reasonable compromise between those two extremes.

More to-the-point, pump 2-3 gallons each time I go to the gas station, and go to the gas station upon empty. That way, worst case, it'll never have to purge-burn more than a couple gallons or so.

I was asking about gasoline stabilizer just in case that could help with the full-tank-fill up twice a year approach, but it sounds like the P.Prime will do a purge burn anyway, so, probably no help there.


iPhone ? Pro

 

Resign yourself to a little less charging, say aim to do a full tank up once a month? Or every second months, depending on your comfort level? Might benefit the engine too, more regular use.

 

Alright, we'll see how it goes.


iPhone ? Pro

 

Are you saying that you think it would be a good idea to drive around most of the time with only 2-3 gallons in the tank ??
If so, why don't you just SAY that instead of beating around the bush ??

But that is NOT a good idea because:
A big empty space at the top of the tank tends to condense more moisture and........
You don't really know how accurate the gauge IS and how attentive you will be after you get used to driving near empty all the time.
Running completely out of gas can be a significant problem.

It would be a MUCH better plan to fill it up when it hits about half empty......regardless of how long that takes to happen.

You are making this more complicated than it IS.

 

I’ll prbly use 89 & 87 mix...fill 89 this week and then 87 the other

 

The prime will receive zero benefit from the 89 gas. Using 87 octane, the car will operate exactly the same

 

The one benefit I can see with higher octane, at least up here: the higher you go, the less ethanol, and at least for Chevron and Shell, the highest octane is ethanol free. I'm still reeling from the one time, I (strongly suspect) we managed to fill up with ethanol-free regular gas, at an out-of-town Chevron: I've never seen such an effortlessly high mpg tank, and it ticks me off that you can't get that anywhere.

 

Not here in USA unfort...we have 10% ethanol mandate..all grades.
In some "rural" areas (but less likely for most Prime owners) you can get E0 for a price$$.

Don't get me started Mendel you know that's my weak spot........

 

Yeah I've heard that, paraphrasing Mr Ford: you can have any ethanol level you want, as long as its 10 %.

I read that some small town areas of BC are normally ethanol free, the mechanics of getting the ethanol there aren't worth it. Not sure of the validity of that though.

This was Powell River fwiw.

 

Here in Rochester NY Fast trax stations 91 octane in ethanol free.

 

Just another factoid I've gleaned, reading: ethanol also raises octane. So if you want to get some ethanol-laced gas, extract the ethanol (via adding and then removing water) and end up with (roughly) 87 octane ethanol-free gas, you need to start with higher octane, say 91. Lot of work, little upside.

 

Thanks to the corn agricultural lobby who bought those mandates. The laws don't mandate some emission result; they specifically require the use of ethanol, and the only practical source in the quantities needed for this commercial-grade ethanol is from corn. The fact that creating ethanol from corn is energy and emissions intensive is not taken into consideration.

 

Ethanol is the least toxic and lowest cost product to raise the octane rating and oxygenate gasoline.

 

I use 91, because I drive most highways I got better miles out of 91, about 30-60 miles different

 

Measured how exactly ?

Unless the 91 you get does not have ethanol in it, that report is worthless bunk.

 

Well, Sam has a point. In reformulated gasoline areas, which includes you and me but not sure about Sam, the energy content (MPG) is essentially regulated (lower energy), and according to Chevron's website last time I checked, essentially the same between grades. If you are outside of EPA RFG areas, there is greater chance of some variations between grades, but it would be unpredictable without some test data.

 

In Oneida, east of Syracuse, the Sav-on gas stations have 87 octane ethanol free gas. They have separate fuel nozzles and the pumps have colored green tops.


Unsupervised!

 

Better octane = greater power in ice it will burn less fuel for performance. Grade 91 and 87 will make a difference if you on ice most of the times. Unless you had your ice for charging only. Than it won’t matter. I don’t have data sheet to approve it but I did test them on Lexus bmw and another card that I had. I also had tested on my Prius I lost about 30-60 miles per tank of gas. Different gas companies also make a difference as well, because their chemicals mix are different.

 

By "better octane" I assume you mean higher octane? Higher octane resists ignition more, is required in high compression engines to avoid pinging. Nothing more.