India Cars Review

The title says it all, and here’s why: first of all, everyone’s feeling the pinch of fuel prices. And it’s not just the average Joes, it’s everyone. Yes, even those who are high up in the economic world — those who own airlines, investment companies, real estate, you name it. We’re hearing about airlines asking passengers to pay for their airline food so they don’t have to raise prices. Investment companies are crashing in the United States and the whole world feels the earth quake. Real estate firms are closing down buildings and liquidating their funds to stay afloat. All this because of diesel fuel prices.

If people were a tad ambitious or daring, we could go for something that has been proposed a few years ago as an alternative to diesel fuel — water. First of all, it makes the car start and run. That’s the most important thing we need to consider when dealing with alternative fuels. Second, it’s inexpensive as compared to gasoline or diesel. Even if we say that gasoline is cheaper than diesel, there is still a substantial difference between using gasoline or diesel and using water. There may be some power technicalities, and car aficionados who love racing would attest to that, but the reality is that it works. Surveys show that people would consider using water as fuel for their cars if it means saving buckets of money that goes to the cashier at the gas pump.
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Rising gasoline prices may just make other forms of alternative means of transportation become more attractive. One of the ways not to be affected by the rising prices of gas is to have an alternative means of travel. Of course, saving up on gasoline use may help in some way, but such actions may still leave one affected with the rising prices of gas. A better way would be trying to use a mode of transportation aside from one that makes use of fuel aside from gasoline. One such example is the use of an electric car.

An electric car is one type of an alternative vehicle. It makes use of electricity as its primary power source. Instead of an internal combustion engine, the electric car, also commonly called as an EV or electric vehicle, has an electric motor to make the vehicle move. It is an alternative fuel vehicle that does not use refined fossil oil for fuel.

Electric cars get electricity for power by means of electric battery packs built on board. One of the advantages of using electric vehicles or EV’s is that they are environmentally friendly. Unlike fossil fuel that emits a number of pollutants into the air when being used, the use of electricity for power does not do so, except that the power plants that may produce them do. But with using electric cars, the emission of harmful pollutants may be reduced substantially. Less cars using fossils fuel and gasoline would help make this possible. And someday, when more electric power is sourced from nuclear, solar, wind and hydro-electric power plants, pollutant emissions will even be reduced more.
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Gasoline prices have seen its highs just recently. It seems for a moment that there would be no let up for the recent experience of rising of gas prices. It is a good thing that the price of crude oil might have gone down a bit. But it seems that this might just be for a little moment.

There would be no guarantee that the recent rise in gas prices already had reached its plateau and on the way of going down. It would only be some time before the crude oil prices may again be rising to record levels. Although the demand for oil in the world has gone down a bit, it does not mean that less and less people might need it. In fact, the demand for oil is still great and that this demand may once again bring a rise in crude oil and gas prices.

And with the recent rise in gas prices, car driving has become quite an expensive activity.  Cars, for the most part, are a necessity for a great number of people. Only a few might be thinking of giving up driving because of the high gas prices. More people would instead be thinking of surviving the recent rise of gas prices. Surviving for some might be applying some means of saving up on the fuel used when driving. One way that this can be done effectively is by improving the car’s mileage. Apart from buying a new car with better mileage, it can also be possible to improve the mileage of your current car. Here are some tips that might help you out.
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History has it that the gasoline prices have been higher than the diesel fuel prices.  But then again, this does not always hold true.  During some winters, the demand for distillate heating oil increases which also raises the price of diesel fuel—so much so that is becomes more expensive than gasoline.

In the United States since September 2004, the price of diesel fuel has been by and large higher than the price of gasoline all year round and this is due to numerous reasons.  The worldwide steady increase of demand for diesel fuel and other distillate fuel oils has put pressure on the tight global refining capacity—more so with the strong demand of such products in China, Europe, and the United States.

The transition from low sulfur diesel (LSD) fuel to ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuel in the United States has affected the diesel fuel production and distribution costs.  This is due to the new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for diesel fuel sulfur content.

Another reason for this shift in the norm between gasoline and diesel fuel prices is that the federal excise tax on the latter is higher than the tax on gasoline.
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Diesel fuel prices used to be less than gasoline prices.  But a lot of people are now wondering why diesel fuel costs higher than gasoline.  The primary reason is the increasing global demand.  The other factors would be environmental restrictions and higher federal taxes.  (All of these will be tackled in detail below.)

What people do not realize is that the pattern shifts.  During the summer, people tend to use their vehicles for vacations; this in turn increases the cost of gasoline.  During the winter, people tend to stay at home and generate a high demand for heating oil; this in turn increases the cost of diesel fuel.  The correlation between heating oil and diesel is that they are similar fuel and that the price of the heating oil tends to set a floor for diesel.

The widening spread between the prices of diesel fuel and gasoline is partly due to the lull in the demand for gasoline, which can be attributed to high prices and soft economy.  If people would just increase their consumption as rapidly as before, then the prices of gasoline would be higher.  In return, the spread between the prices of diesel fuel and gasoline will not be as wide as it is now.
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This Special Scheme offers free insurance, exchange bonus, free car accessories and more which is announced on December 4.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd, India’s largest exporter and fastest growing auto manufacturer, announced special schemes for its customers during the month of December. As part of the scheme, Hyundai is offering free insurance, exchange bonuses and free car accessories on the purchase of Hyundai cars. The flagship model Santro which was launched in 1998 will be available under this scheme at the ten year old, introductory price of Rs 2.99 lakhs.

Hyundai Motor India Ltd has launched the scheme on its entire product range, namely, Santro (GS/GLS/Non-AC), i10 (all variants), Getz (Petrol), Accent (GLE), Verna (Petrol and Diesel). All Santro GL (Solid) purchases will get a special price of Rs. 2, 99,000. Santro Non AC, Santro GLS and i10 buyers will be eligible to get free insurance as well as car accessories worth Rs.7, 000, Rs. 15,000 and Rs. 5,000 respectively.

There are some interesting exchange schemes as well. Hyundai customers can avail the exchange benefits up to Rs. 20,000 on all the above cars. Also, a loyalty scheme has also been announced where in existing Hyundai customers can avail the loyalty discounts up to Rs.20,000 on purchase of new Hyundai Getz (Petrol), Accent (GLE), Verna (Petrol and Diesel) .

On the announcement of December schemes, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, Senior VP, Marketing & Sales, Mr. Arvind Saxena said, “We at Hyundai Motor India are committed to provide the best of benefits to our customers who are already a part as well as new members of of the Hyundai family. The schemes announced will provide our customers with an attractive value for money proposition and with the prevailing economic conditions this should provide an impetus for our sales and offset a part of the ownership cost which has gone up considerably in the past few months.”

With the gasoline and diesel fuel prices increasing, people have come up with various solutions to go around this situation.  One of these solutions is the use of diesel fuel additives.  Primarily they are known to increase lubricity of fuel, hence decreasing the wear and tear of engine parts.  What is more is that it also can increase gas mileage.

Being a highly complex fuel, diesel fuel’s chemical structure changes from the time it leaves the refinery to the time it is pumped into holding tanks and fuel station to the time it gets pumped into the vehicle.  Oxidization and structural changes occur in the fuel molecules.  The energy per unit volume of the fuel can change during this phase, and this is what will cause your engine to have poor performance.

To combat the effects of fuel degradation and increase the fuel’s cetane value (discussed in detail below), the right type and ratio of fuel additives have to be used.  Among a myriad of benefits, the engine will be able to obtain more power from a gallon of fuel.
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For as long as the prices of crude oil and the demand for distillate fuels are maintained at a high level, the retail diesel fuel prices will in most likelihood be high, too.  The Energy Information Association (EIA) has released a report on what is likely to happen for remainder of 2008 and 2009 for the United States.  It states that the national average retail prices for diesel fuel will reach its highest point during the third quarter of 2008 then it will decline by the fourth quarter of 2009.

However, these are just projections; hence, there is no assurance or guarantee because it can be greatly affected by the instability and unpredictability of the prices of crude oil and petroleum products.  Among the many factors that affect the prices, below are the main ones that are faced by United States, especially the West Coast countries:

The Effect of Sulfur on Prices

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for diesel fuel sulfur content can also alter the prices for diesel fuel.  What needs to be taken into consideration is the logistics of delivery of the Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) fuel to retail service stations.  Most of these products are transported via pipelines to reach the bulk terminals then to tanker trucks then finally to the retail stations.  Contamination may happen to the ULSD fuel because these pipelines, storage, and local distribution systems also serve to deliver other diesel fuels and petroleum products, which have higher sulfur content.  If a batch of ULSD fuel gets contaminated, it might not be an option to mix it with additional low-sulfur product to bring back its sulfur content to the original level.  The contaminated batch has to be returned to get reprocessed in a refinery, and this solution is a difficult and expensive one.  More so, the production of ULSD fuel entails a big expense to begin with.  So any problems that might arise along the way with regard to delivery will just add up to the expense.
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