Why Are Gasoline Prices Higher in the Summer?

U.S. drivers pay more at the pump during the summer because of supply and demand, but also because the blends of gasoline sold change with the seasons. Learn more in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/fuel-consumption/summer-fuel.htm/printable

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey
brain Stuff Lauren Vogebaum here. Unfortunately for American drivers, gas
prices often go up during the summer, starting around Memorial Day.
There are many reasons behind the increase in summer fuel prices,
and some are fairly logical. More people traveling, especially on

(00:24):
family vacations and road trips, increases demand. Also, in the
spring months, energy companies conduct maintenance on their refineries, shutting
them down and limiting capacity until late May, decreasing supply,
and because of these disruptions, oil supplies can become stretched.
In addition, natural disasters like hurricanes can increase prices by

(00:46):
disrupting transport routes and damaging refineries and other infrastructure. But
did you know that the gasoline sold during the summer
is actually different and more expensive to produce than that
sold in the winter. Twice every year in the United States,
the fuel supply changes. It's known as the seasonal gasoline transition.

(01:08):
This change is the biggest reason for the price hike
in summer gasoline. Depending on the time of year, gas
stations switch between providing summer grade fuel and winter grade fuel.
This which started in nine as part of the Reformulated
Gasoline Program, which was established through the nineteen ninety Clean
Air Act amendments. The Environmental Protection Agency or EPA, started

(01:31):
the Reformulated Gasoline Program in order to reduce pollution and
smog during the summer ozone season, which occurs from June
first to September fift In order to reduce pollution, summer
blend fuels use different oxygenates or fuel additives. These blends,
the e p A says, burn cleaner and also help
compensate for a limited oil supply. This practice of using

(01:55):
seasonal blends also encourages the development of alternative fuels. Remember
that gasoline isn't just made up of processed crude oil.
It's a blend of refined crude oil and different compounds
and additives. The actual difference in cost of production varies,
and it can add between five and fifteen cents per
gallon to the cost of your fill up, depending on

(02:17):
where you live in the United States. No matter the
difference in production costs, the increase at the pump is
even greater owing to the summer driving season dips and
supply maintenance costs, and companies converting to production of summer blends.
The summer grade fuel burns cleaner than winter grade fuel.
This means that it produces less small and releases fewer

(02:39):
toxic air pollutants. During the summer, pollution is a frequent
concern due to increased levels of smog and ozone, which
can harm the lungs. The summer heat boosts the formation
of ozone, while the appearance of an inversion layer, which
is an im mobile layer of air, can trap pollutants
in the lower atmosphere. Summer grade fuel has a different

(03:01):
read vapor pressure, or r VP than winter grade fuel,
which contributes to its being marginally more eco friendly. R
VP is the vapor pressure of gasoline measured at a
hundred degrees fahrenheit that's thirty eight celsius. The fuels with
higher r VP evaporate more easily than those with lower
r VP. A particular fuel blends r VP is based

(03:22):
on the combined r VP of the ingredients that make
up the blend. Irregulators worry about this evaporation because it
contributes to ozone formation. The gasoline must have an r
VP below fourteen point seven pounds per square inch or
p s I, which is normal atmospheric pressure. If a
fuel's r VP were greater than that, excess pressure would

(03:44):
build up in the gas tank and the fuel could
boil and evaporate. Depending on where you are in the US,
the e p A standards mandate and r VP below
either nine point zero or seven point eight p s
I four summer grade fuel. Some low regulations call for
stricter standards, and because of these varying r VP standards,

(04:05):
more than fourteen different types of fuel blends are sold
throughout the US during the summer. Because r VP standards
are higher during the winter, winter grade fuel uses more
buttane as an additive. With its high r VP of
fifty two p s i. A winter grade gas has
about ten percent butane in its blend. Butane is inexpensive

(04:25):
and plentiful, contributing to lower prices. Summer grade fuel might
still use butane, but in lower quantities around two percent
of a blend. So when do companies start producing these
different summer fuels. The e p A defines April to
June as the transition season for fuel production. Refineries switch

(04:46):
over to summer blend production in March and April, and
gas stations have by June one to switch to selling
summer grade gas, while terminals and other facilities upstream from
pumping stations have to switch by May one. Following summer
driving season, companies switch back to winter blends beginning in September,
with the first winter increase in r VP allowance occurring

(05:07):
on September. In a two tho one report, the e
p A said that quote roughly seventy five million Americans
breathe cleaner air today due to the seasonal fuel program. Still,
the increased price, combined with the use of controversial additives
like ethanol, which is less energy efficient than gasoline and

(05:28):
produces more small, means that the program may still have
its detractors. In times of crisis or natural disasters, the
e p A may waive the summer fuel mandates. Two
recent examples were the ransomware attack that caused the Colonial Pipeline,
which supplies gas to states all along the East Coast,
to shut down, and the COVID nineteen pandemic. In In

(05:52):
the former case, the waiver was to keep fuel prices
from getting too high, and in the ladder, the drop
off in gasoline demand meant that more time was needed
to transition from winter to summer fuel. As gas storage
is limited. Today's episode is based on the article why

(06:12):
is gas more expensive in the summer than in the
winter on house to works dot com written by Jacob Silverman.
Brain Stuff is production of Our Heart Radio in partnership
with house toffworks dot Com and it's produced by Tyler Klang.
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