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Non-ethanol gas price WAY higher


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I am shocked, have no explanation. My brother was telling me about a new convenience store on the interstate 12 miles away that sells Exxon. The good news was that they sell non-ethanol gas. Yippee! Then he told me the price. Regular e10 gas was $279 and non-ethanol was $4.09. I remarked that the e-free gas price is terrible, that we could buy it way cheaper at our favorite spot in the other direction from our town. (I now need to go to that store and see what the price is but it's a direction I don't normally go.) Little did I know... the next day I went yet another direction and went by the convenience store I have often bought e-free gas and it's always been a decent price relative to other stations. Not this time. Regular e10 gas was $279 and non-ethanol was $4.69. That is four-sixty-nine! What!

 

FWIW and for reference, I think premium e10 gas was also $4.69.

 

Why the heck would it be this high? That is almost $2.00 higher than e10 gas. On a percentage basis, 68% higher. That seems nuts. Seems like when we first started buying e-free gas, it was, like, 10% higher.

 

I did a google search and found nothing that listed a price chart that also listed non-ethanol.

 

Are you experiencing such a difference? I need to contact whomever agency that controls such a thing and gripe! Or is it the free market 100% at work? There oughta be a law, lol!

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Ethanol free premium has always been at least $1 higher per gallon than regular 87 octane unleaded (with 10% ethanol).  Sometimes there is a bigger gap than that.  Right now regular 87 octane unleaded has been around $2.75/gallon for months it seems.

 

I don't buy much of it other than for my seasonal engines so I honestly don't pay that much attention to how much more it costs.  I pay whatever it costs to avoid ethanol in my lawn mower, snow blower, and outboard.

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It depends on the store here.  Some places are over $4 and some are just a little more than E10.  There’s no logic to it. 
 

I think they charge the high prices because people will pay it.  Most people are filling up a small can for their lawnmower and they don’t worry about the price.

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27 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

Supply and demand. Not enough demand to drive a volume savings but they want to be able to offer it so the price is the price. 
 

 

 

So, responding to your post, is demand in 2024 a lot less than two, five, ten years ago? Because the prices I quoted are definitely WAY higher than before.

 

I have no idea why this is but a possibility is that "they" (these two sellers, anyway) have decided that they CAN charge it, so, they are.

 

I suppose that there is also a possibility that demand for e-free HAS, in fact, decreased. The period, say, 5-10 years ago, even before that, people using small engines were being taught that ethanol is a disaster for their motors, but then didn't a lot of manufacturers change their fuel lines and gaskets and such so that ethanol would not be such a problem? Could be that the public is no longer as worried about ethanol.

 

I wonder what percentage of boat owners use e-free? My boats have never seen ethanol but I wonder if I'm in the minority. I also have no idea what the percentage of e-free gas sales are for small engines and how much are for boaters. I also don't know the percentage of buyers buying for a car or truck.

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3 minutes ago, livemusic said:

 

So, responding to your post, is demand in 2024 a lot less than two, five, ten years ago? Because the prices I quoted are definitely WAY higher than before.

 

I have no idea why this is but a possibility is that "they" (these two sellers, anyway) have decided that they CAN charge it, so, they are.

 

I suppose that there is also a possibility that demand for e-free HAS, in fact, decreased. The period, say, 5-10 years ago, even before that, people using small engines were being taught that ethanol is a disaster for their motors, but then didn't a lot of manufacturers change their fuel lines and gaskets and such so that ethanol would not be such a problem? Could be that the public is no longer as worried about ethanol.

 

I wonder what percentage of boat owners use e-free? My boats have never seen ethanol but I wonder if I'm in the minority. I also have no idea what the percentage of e-free gas sales are for small engines and how much are for boaters. I also don't know the percentage of buyers buying for a car or truck.


i don’t know about the market trends, but my point is that e-free gas is a niche product. While it’s the best choice for small engines of all types, most people just put regular gas in them anyway. For the manufacturers (refineries) they want to offer it but it’s limited run type of stuff. It’s the same cost to produce and transport but a lot lower volume so the per gallon price will be a lot higher. With higher volume gas the cost increase over time can be mitigated better with volume. 

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This area has a Huge recreational vehicle and boat population.  Goes all year so there is no off season. Snowmobiles, Atvs and boats line up for Rec Gas. Myself included; for everything except my truck. REC vehicles are allowed on all this counties roads.  Places have parking just for them.

Rec gas, efree, is offered everywhere  here and is always very close to whatever $$ premium is but usually less than diesel.  Gotta pay to play.

:smiley:

A-Jay

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I'd gladly pay $5.69 for non ethanol if I had to.

Mowers, weed eaters, leaf blowers, chainsaws and Mercury outboard all thank me. 😃

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42 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

This area has a Huge recreational vehicle and boat population. 

 

42 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Rec gas, efree, is offered everywhere  here and is always very close to whatever $$ premium is but usually less than diesel.

Same thing around here - and occasionally E-Free is less than Ultra-Premium. Of the 6 stations within 2 miles of me, 4 of them have E-Free gas.

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You have gas under $3/gallon???!  I haven't seen those prices in over a decade in my neck of the woods!  (yes, we have the highest gas prices in the country)

 

Regardless of price, my boat will never see ethanol as long as I own it.

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30 minutes ago, Glenn said:

You have gas under $3/gallon???! 

Past couple weeks - stations by me have been bopping between $2.79 and $3.19

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Ok, good news for my brother and me. The store we have been buying e-free gas from for many years that I mentioned above... that I didn't know their price because I have not gone that way... I called them and yippee, their price is still best around. They only sell e-free gas, they have 87, 89 and 91 or so octane e-free. It seems that we have done fine over the years just buying 87 octane e-free gas. Their price is $3.59. The price at a store about 2 miles from them, for e10 87 octane is $2.90. So, our store has not changed their e-free pricing. To recap, the new convenience store that I mentioned that is in the other direction, their price is $4.09 for e-free; the store I stopped at in yet another direction the other day is the one that had the sky high (to me) $4.69. And they have never been anywhere close to that high.

 

This store that has the $3.59 for e-free, they only sell e-free and it is the only gas station in that small town. So, anyone there, if they want gas locally even for their car/truck they will be buying e-free, and they would panic if they had to pay over $4.00, much less $4.69! So, I am assuming that his helps to keep their pricing 'reasonable' for e-free, since the general market there is filling up their cars and trucks with their gas. I don't recall ever seeing any store other than this small town store around here that sells three grades of e-free. When I go there, I always fill up several 5-gal cans. I used to fish that direction and I would fill up my boat but I don't fish that lake anymore, so, I am going to have to take even more 5-gal cans! Big difference between $3.59 and $4.69! (Although, I could buy it for $4.09 at the new convenience store that is in the direction I drive to fish.)

 

'Tis interesting to note prices in other parts of the country.

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I'm not out to change anyone's mind on ethanol free gas but I've run regular E-10 in my 2020 Mercury, my 2022 Honda Pioneer, and all my Stihl products for years with zero problems.  I add Mercury fuel stabilizer to my boat tank, and Sta-Bill to my gas cans for everything else.  

 

I do make sure the regular gas is from the top brands like BP, Shell, Exxon, or any gas that is rated Top Tier.  

 

Again, I'm not trying to debate which is best, just that if your engines call for regular E-10 gas, it's usually a lot cheaper and could save money.

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Plenty of places around here have E free gas to accommodate all the boats, ATVs, toys. Last time I checked it was hovering around $5/gal. I don’t use that much in the boat because all my lakes are relatively small.

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42 minutes ago, Capt Ed said:

Again, I'm not trying to debate which is best, just that if your engines call for regular E-10 gas, it's usually a lot cheaper and could save money.

My guess is that your engines don’t sit around for 6 months at a time without being used. Mine do. If I used my lawn mower, snow blower, and outboard more often all year round, I wouldn’t use ethanol free gasoline. It’s the sitting there for months on end with ethanol that can cause issues.

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Based on my experience with boats and outboards, ethanol free gas is only necessary if you don’t run the boat regularly. Again I’m just basing this off of my experience, but I have never used ethanol free in my boat and have never had any issues. Two buddies who also fish almost every weekend feel the same way . I do put additives in every time I fuel up. And I normally fill the tank before every trip unless it’s totally unnecessary lol. Just wanted to throw in my thoughts on outboards and ethanol. 🤷🏻‍♂️😂😂😂

28 minutes ago, gimruis said:

My guess is that your engines don’t sit around for 6 months at a time without being used. Mine do. If I used my lawn mower, snow blower, and outboard more often all year round, I wouldn’t use ethanol free gasoline. It’s the sitting there for months on end with ethanol that can cause issues.


If your boat sits up for 6 months at a time I’d say you need to fish more 🤷🏻‍♂️😂

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I gassed up today. E-10 was 2.99 and 100% gas was 3.39. It’s pretty much always a 40 cent difference per gallon at that station. 

 

Other stations do jack up the pure stuff a lot more 

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Wish we had gas prices like that around here. The "budget" stations are charging 3.39-3.49 for E-10 gas. Premium gas stations are anywhere from 3.69-4.39 for E-10. Non ethanol (where you can find it) is 4.59 to 5.49 depending on where you buy it. Stations that have a dedicated non ethanol pump are always higher priced than stations that offer it as a selection on a multi fuel pump.

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10% ethanol here swings from $3.20 to $3.70 here.  The ethanol-free at the gas station the next small town over (5 miles away) goes for about $1.50 or so more and it's 91 octane.  The ethanol-free at the marinas goes for about $2.50-$3.00 more per gallon.  

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1 hour ago, GreenPig said:

Just filled up my truck with 93 E - free at $4.80 a gallon. Wasn't long ago it was over $5. 

Might be worth it to drive up here if you bring a really big tank 😂 

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Been using E10 since it came out, just add a shot of stabil or seafoam and not one issue in all these years !

My roto tiller has E10 over a year old and still runs fine ! My snoblower has last winters gas in it and started right up!  Adding a shot of stabil is by far cheaper than buying non E fuel !!!  I haven't had to loose one minutes sleep over E fuels and no issues in many many years !!  Watch where you buy your fuel !!

Your money spend or waste it as you please!!

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