Stop Buying Diesel Additives by the Bottle
If you're buying diesel additive at truck stops in 16oz bottles, you're paying 3-5x more than you need to. Fleet-scale purchasing (drums, totes, direct delivery) dramatically reduces your cost per gallon treated.
Example: A name-brand additive that costs $0.25/gal at retail might cost $0.08/gal at fleet-volume pricing. On 100,000 gallons/month, that's $17,000/month in savings on the additive alone — before counting fuel economy improvements.
The 5 Questions Every Fleet Manager Should Ask
Before choosing an additive, ask:
1. **What is the cost per gallon treated at my fleet's volume?** Not the bottle price — the actual cost per gallon of diesel treated.
2. **What does independent testing show?** Ask for HFRR lubricity data, CFPP test results, and fuel economy data from fleet trials. If they can't provide it, move on.
3. **Can they deliver at fleet scale?** Bulk drums, totes, direct delivery to your facility? Or are you sending someone to buy bottles?
4. **Is it multi-function or single-function?** Managing 3-4 separate additives (cleaner + lubricity + cetane + anti-gel) is expensive and error-prone. Multi-function treatments simplify operations.
5. **What's the real ROI?** Calculate: (fuel economy improvement × monthly fuel spend) - additive cost = monthly ROI. If the additive doesn't pay for itself in fuel savings, it's not worth it.
Red Flags When Evaluating Additives
Watch out for:
**No data**: Any legitimate additive company can provide test data. 'Trust us' is not a data point.
**Retail-only sales**: If they don't offer fleet pricing or bulk packaging, they're not serious about the fleet market.
**'Miracle' claims**: No additive increases fuel economy by 25% or 'eliminates all engine problems.' Realistic improvement is 2-8% fuel economy.
**No treat ratio on the label**: You can't calculate cost per gallon treated without knowing the treat ratio.
**MLM/affiliate-only distribution**: Additives sold through multi-level marketing typically have inflated prices to cover commission structures.
How to Run a Fleet Additive Trial
Don't switch your entire fleet at once. Run a controlled trial:
**Step 1**: Select 5-10 trucks representative of your fleet (similar routes, loads, drivers).
**Step 2**: Track baseline fuel economy for 2-4 weeks without the additive.
**Step 3**: Add the additive at the recommended treat ratio for 4-6 weeks.
**Step 4**: Compare MPG data. Account for seasonal variation, route changes, and load differences.
**Step 5**: Calculate ROI: (MPG improvement % × monthly fuel cost × fleet size) - (additive cost × fleet size) = monthly net savings.
If the trial shows positive ROI, roll out fleet-wide. If not, the trial cost was minimal.
Fuel Ox vs. the Competition: An Honest Assessment
We're transparent: this site is operated by Fuel Ox. But the comparison data is real.
Fuel Ox's advantage is combustion catalyst technology — most competitors are detergent-only. This means Fuel Ox improves how fuel burns (fuel economy gains), while most competitors just clean the fuel system (maintenance benefit only).
Fuel Ox's disadvantage is brand awareness — Power Service and Lucas Oil are household names. Fuel Ox is newer and less known. That's why we publish real pricing data and encourage fleet trials.
Check our side-by-side comparisons for the full data on each competitor.