Here’s what HBO’s hit series The Last of Us doesn’t understand about cars
The Last of Us is one of the best video games of all time. And the current HBO series is also getting a lot of recognition. However, we noticed something. Something that shows the creators of The Last of Us don’t know anything about cars.
The original game was released in 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and then also appeared on the PlayStation 4 and 5. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world where much of humanity is infected with the Cordyceps fungus.
The Last of Us with mushroom zombies
This fungus is real and parasitizes on ants, beetles and other insects. When such an animal is infected with it, Cordyceps takes over the brain and the animal’s behavior changes.
In The Last of Us, the effects of Cordyceps are amplified and people turn into zombies due to the infection. In this world, the main characters Joel and Ellie have to survive.
They travel across the United States, sometimes in a car. And with that, The Last of Us goes wrong. The series is set twenty years after the Cordyceps outbreak. Gasoline that has been in the car for twenty years is no longer good.
Gasoline generally has a long shelf life
Basically, petrol has a very long shelf life. The ADAC once stored a few liters of leaded petrol in a tightly sealed metal canister. After 25 years it turned out to be perfectly usable.
In all other cases – i.e. plastic canisters or petrol in the car tank – the fuel has a limited shelf life. Opinions differ on how long exactly. Estimates range from a few months to a year or two.
destabilization, oxidation and evaporation
Gasoline becomes unusable in three ways: destabilization, oxidation, and evaporation. To start with the latter. When vaporized, the volatile elements are removed from the fuel mixture and lower the octane number.
During oxidation, elements of gasoline react with oxygen and change its chemical composition. A study by the Belgian website Auto55 shows that this is mainly a problem in old cars that have a non-closed fuel system.
In modern cars, oxidation and evaporation are rarely a problem, but destabilization is. Current gasoline is even particularly sensitive to this. At a temperature of 20 degrees, the destabilization process begins after just six months.
Ethanol in E10 and E5 attracts water
Another thing that could affect gasoline shelf life is the amount of ethanol in the fuel. There is a lot of ethanol in E10 and E5 which attracts water. However, closed fuel systems are less affected.