Unleaded gasoline is available for all markets and has been developed to help keep vital engine parts like intake valves and fuel injectors clean. This helps improve fuel economy.
Regular Unleaded Octane 87 – A very popular gasoline, developed to meet the needs of most vehicles.
Special Unleaded Octane 89 - Developed to meet the needs of vehicles that can benefit from a higher octane.
Super+ Unleaded Octane 91-93 – Formulated to meet the demands of some of today’s most advanced engines, it generally has an octane level of 93 but is blended with
An octane level of 91 or 92 in certain areas of the U.S.
95 RON “Euro”
98 RON “Euro”
Reformulated gasoline (RFG):
o Non-VOC – Winter gasoline
o VOC – Summer gasoline.
o Arizona RBOB – Reformulated Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending, with ethanol as the oxygenate for use in the state of Arizona.
o California RBOB – Reformulated Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending, with ethanol as the oxygenate used to manufacture California Air Resources Board (CARB) gasoline.
Ultra-low-sulfur gasoline-specially blended for the state of Georgia.
Additives-used to clean fuel injectors and other engine components.
REGIONAL VARIATIONS:
Australia – “regular” unleaded fuel is 91 RON, “premium” unleaded with 95 RON is widely available, and 98 RON fuel is also reasonably common. Shell used to sell 100 RON petrol from a small number of service stations, most of which are located in capital cities (stopped in August 2008).
Germany: “Normal” 91 RON, “Super” 95 RON and “Super Plus” 98 RON is practically available everywhere. Big suppliers like Shell or Aral offer 100 RON gasoline (Shell V-Power, Aral Ultimate) at almost every fuel station. “Normal” 91 RON is more and more disappearing, because lower production amounts make it more expensive than “Super” 95 RON, so it is often not offered any more.
Hong Kong: Only 98 RON and 99 RON are available in the market. There have been calls to re-introduced 95 RON, but the calls have been rejected by all petrol station chains, citing that 95 RON was phased out because of market forces.
Italy: 95 RON is the only compulsory gasoline offered (verde), only few fuel stations (Agip, IP, IES, OMV) offer 98 RON as the premium type, many Shell and Tamoil stations close to the cities offer also V-Power Gasoline rated at 100 RON
India: India’s Ordinary And Premium Petrols are of 89-91 RON. The premium petrols are generally ordinary fuels with additives, that do not really change the octane value. Two variants, “Speed 93” and “Speed 97” were launched, with RON values of 93 and 97, but Speed 97 was discontinued. India’s vehicles usually have compression ratios under 10:1, thus enabling them to use lower quality petrols without engine knocking.
Indonesia: Indonesia’s “Premium” petrol rated at 88 RON and being subsidized it cost only about US$ 0.50/liter. Other options are “Pertamax” rated at 92 RON and the “Pertamax Plus” rated at RON 95, which is the highest octane available for automotive gasoline in Indonesia.
Malaysia: the “regular” unleaded fuel is 95 RON, “premium” fuel is rated at 97 RON(but for Shell 97 RON is V-Power), and Shell’s V-Power Racing is rated at 99 RON.
Netherlands: 95 RON “Euro” and 98 RON “Super” are sold at practically every station. Shell V-Power is a 97 RON (labelled as 95 due to the legalities of only using 95 or 98 labeling), whereas in neighboring Germany Shell V-Power consists of the regular 100 RON fuel.
Spain: 95 RON “Euro” is sold in every station with 98 RON “Super” being offered in most stations. Many stations around cities and highways offer other high octane “premium” brands.
New Zealand: 91 RON “Regular” and 95 RON “Premium” are both widely available. 98 RON is available instead of 95 RON at some service stations in larger urban areas.
Ireland: 95 RON “unleaded” is the only petrol type available through stations, although E5 (99 RON) is becoming more commonplace.
Russia and CIS countries – 80 RON (76 MON) is the minimum available, the standard is 92 RON.
South Africa: “regular” unleaded fuel is 95 RON in coastal areas with most fuel stations optionally offering 97 RON. Inland (higher altitude) “regular” unleaded fuel is 93 RON, once again most fuel stations optionally offer 95 RON.
United Kingdom: ‘regular’ petrol has an octane rating of 95 RON, with 97 RON fuel being widely available as the Super Unleaded. Tesco and Shell both offer 99 RON fuel. BP is currently trialling the public selling of the super-high octane petrol BP Ultimate Unleaded 102, which as the name suggests, has an octane rating of 102 RON. Although BP Ultimate Unleaded (with an octane rating of 97 RON) and BP Ultimate Diesel are both widely available throughout the UK, BP Ultimate Unleaded 102 is (as of October 2007) only available throughout the UK in 10 filling stations, and is priced at about two and half times more than their 97 RON fuel. Also offered Shell V-Power, but in a 99 RON octane rating, and Tesco fuel stations also supply the Greenergy produced 99 RON “Tesco 99”
United States: In the Rocky Mountain (high altitude) states, 85 AKI is the minimum octane, and 91 AKI is the maximum octane available in fuel. The reason for this is that in higher-altitude areas, a typical naturally-aspirated engine draws in less air mass per cycle due to the reduced density of the atmosphere. This directly translates to less fuel and reduced absolute compression in the cylinder, therefore deterring knock. It is safe to fill up a carburetor car that normally takes 87 AKI fuel at sea level with 85 AKI fuel in the mountains, but at sea level the fuel may cause damage to the engine. A disadvantage to this strategy is that most turbocharged vehicles are unable to produce full power, even when using the “premium” 91 AKI fuel. In some east coast states, up to 94 AKI is available. In parts of the Midwest (primarily Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri) ethanol based E-85 fuel with 105 AKI is available. Often, filling stations near US racing tracks will offer higher octane levels such as 100 AKI. California fuel stations will offer 87, 89, and 91 AKI octane fuels, and at some stations, 100 AKI or higher octane, sold as racing fuel. Until summer 2001 before the phase-out of methyl tert-butyl ether aka MTBE as an octane enhancer additive, 92 AKI was offered in lieu of 91.
