Cheaper “fuel”

General Discussion
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And yes, I do save money using e85 with lower gas mileage.
It’s almost 50% cheaper.
Was $1.99 in august when e10 was $4
Yes car IS flex fuel

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Is your car a flex fueled vehicle?

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I have watched a few engine tear downs by eric now to be convinced to use only quality gas, and early oil changes.

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I had a buddy who was convinced he was saving money by running E85.

He was also having to fill up his tank twice as often.

Your mileage may vary. :wink:

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I have seen 30% avg drop mentioned quite often. If it was 50% I’d think the internet would have such news.

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Your experience is what matters, and E85 saves you money. Can’t beat that.

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30% less mpg is what the EPA rating shows. Or 70% the distance; 14 miles on one gallon vs 20 miles.

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Fuel costs for gasoline and E85 using prices shown on pump;

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BTW, ethanol is not gasoline so the title should read Cheaper fuel.

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Gas Buddy used to list e85 prices but site is not updated anymore. I have seen a $1 swing from different stations. Some places had it 10% less then e10 and other had it at 25-30% or even more. Not sure why hyvee grocer near me has it at 2.29 now. Hyvee site used to be former Kmart store. They leveled old store and turned new building 90 deg so it faces main road now. They don’t have self checkout. Wink wink.

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Someone please explain this, if E85 fuel is 85% gasoline, why doesn’t it cost at least 85% the price of gas?

I have Googled this several ways and they always come back to the “ethanol is made from domestic corn and it is significantly cheaper to produce than crude oil-derived gasoline…”

I understand that Government Subsidies from the various Federal Agricultural Programs lower the production cost of corn-based ethanol…

But, even if the ethanol is free, why isn’t the cost enough to at least pay for the 85% gasoline?

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Because it’s NOT. E85 is 85% ethanol and only 15% gasoline.

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85% ethanol…

You are running your car on moonshine or Everclear with a little gasoline tossed in. :laughing:

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If you try to compare profit margin between e10 and e85 you may never find enough info to explain difference. Import crude oil? Grow corn? Build $2 billion refinery. Build plant to process ethanol? The process to make gas is much different then making ethanol. Many new ethanol plants are co-op farmer owned to get rid of corn and went broke very fast.
Make ethanol. Sell it at a loss? Station A sells it $1 less then station B. Not like “gas”. Every gas station is within 5-10 cents for e10. Not so with e85

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With the government subsidies for the distilling of corn into ethanol, the plants were profitable before the first drop of ethanol came out. Or so I read decades ago when they first started appearing in Ohio.

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I think cars made around 2010-2015 time got into e85 stuff. And then elec cars got popular and fuel motors were sort of downsized and using less fuel got pushed aside.

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I have heard nothing about plants losing money. Farmer relatives were heavily investing in them. Well $20,000 to me is heavily but maybe to them just a bulk fuel delivery.

Note: a quick search reflected five years of good profits as of 2025.

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A bit earlier. My 04 Chevy SUV could be equipped for E85. My wife’s 2014 Audi is a flex fuel car.

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Thank you, with all that Googling, that fact never came up!

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My old 1999 Grand Caravan was flex fuel… My 2023 Tacoma is NOT flex fuel… lol
I’d hate to see how bad it would be if I was able to run E85, since right now my average is 13.9 MPG over the last 10 fill ups… :laughing:
(all short runs with idling involved)

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What about your fun car? Put a blower in it and convert it to E85. Then go out and scare yourself big time.