About two months ago, the German Government decreed in an act of ecological force an increase of the percentage of ethanol in premium (Super) gasoline from 5 to 10%. Immediately a big tug of war started between the Federal Government and those car-loving Germans fearing for the well-being of their Audi, BMW, and Mercedes engines.
In addition, some Green came up with calculations that alcohol made from corn is less ecological than burning fossil fuel. Above all, food prices would necessarily increase as fertile land is instead used to produce ethanol than cereals. The fact is that in Germany, Super E10 (Eurosuper) presently is a dead article, whereas, as far as I know, Americans don't give a hoot what they fill into their tanks as long as it keeps their robust engines running and is affordable.
To promote sales of the biosprit (Would this be called organic gasoline in the States?), oil companies urged the Government to tax Super E10 less than the traditional Super, but the Ministry of Finance turned out to be as pigheaded as the German driver. Now tanks at the filling stations are full of Super E10 while supplies of the classical Super are dwindling. Some pessimists even predicted a shortage of the favorite brew despite gasoline prices constantly climbing and, as usual, soaring before the Easter holidays.
In fact, with the content of its reservoir approaching zero, fearing that the pumps might run dry and be damaged, a filling station in Filderstadt near Stuttgart displayed a price of 9.99 Euros per liter for Super just to block drivers from filling up. However, it happened that one guy refueled 3 and a girl 6 gallons winding up with bills of 100 and 200 Euros, respectively. A gasoline price of 55 U$ per gallon, is this worth an entry into the Guinness book?
I actually don't care. On those rare occasions when I use my car, it is either to go to France or Switzerland, where Super is readily available and sold at a lower price than in Germany.
Note added in proof: In the meantime, Exxon has re-embursed the two persons from Filderstadt.
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| Note the price tags at the filling station. Diesel: 7.6 U$ per gallon, Super E10: 8.4 U$ per gallon and Super (premium gas): 55.4 U$ per gallon. |
In fact, with the content of its reservoir approaching zero, fearing that the pumps might run dry and be damaged, a filling station in Filderstadt near Stuttgart displayed a price of 9.99 Euros per liter for Super just to block drivers from filling up. However, it happened that one guy refueled 3 and a girl 6 gallons winding up with bills of 100 and 200 Euros, respectively. A gasoline price of 55 U$ per gallon, is this worth an entry into the Guinness book?
I actually don't care. On those rare occasions when I use my car, it is either to go to France or Switzerland, where Super is readily available and sold at a lower price than in Germany.
Note added in proof: In the meantime, Exxon has re-embursed the two persons from Filderstadt.
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