E15 Fuel vs E10 Fuel

Don’t equate that to E-10 or E-15. That is E-85 for Flex vehicles.

A year ago, I could only buy ethanol free fuel at a specialized oil company, one that doesn’t usually sell to the public, but delivers fuel to businesses. Since signing up for an account at one of those businesses, I now see E0 popping up at regular gas stations around me. The Chevron in my neighborhood now sells “recreational” 90 octane E0. The RaceTrac off I-95 in Fort Pierce sells 87 octane E0. I can even find ethanol free fuel at a Wawa station in Daytona. There’s a Gate station by my mother’s house in Jacksonville that is selling E0.

There are so many gas stations selling E0 in Florida that, after doing a little planning, I can get to far away destinations and back without having to put any E10 in my 2003 Honda Nighthawk 750. (I know it’s a 2003 motorcycle, but it was designed in 1991, so it runs better on E0.)

EDIT:

Removed article

Does anyone else have more in-depth advice/resources they can share? Thanks in advance!

Can you guys share some more relative/helpful articles? Trying to learn more about this :slight_smile:

I actually wasn’t terribly wild about the article (I mean, they didn’t even mention Tesla’s with electric vehicles) and the lists of vehicles, but that’s just me :wink:

As far as how clean an EV really is, a lot of that is determined by what kind of power you are receiving (my house is powered by mostly by nuclear and some waste to energy as well). Keep in mind too, the process to make the batteries for EV/Hybrids is NOT an environmentally clean process (though by the end of the life of the car the positive impact from driving usually is a bigger net gain than the initial loss from the battery manufacturing process).

I think the best thing you can do for the environment (regardless of fuel type) is to keep your vehicle up to date on scheduled maintenance, and to make sure your emissions systems are functioning properly.

1 Like

I think Julia is making an attempt to circumvent the advertising rules.

Definitely a possibility…as I said, not a very good article in my opinion anyway

The EPA has approved the use of 15% ethanol gasoline (E15) in many automobiles model year 2001 and newer. This approval is dated August 2011, but their webpage is as new as March of last year. Furthermore, there are many gas stations that now offer this blend to the public.

The Coordinating Research Council (CRC) report is suspect. Right off the bat it says that the report was created by a " coalition of oil companies and automakers". I am not sure about the automakers, but oil companies will want you to always use 100% pure gas so they maintain steady demand. The report does not address the wide usage of 10% ethanol gas (E10) today, nor does it test it. Even if there was something wrong with E15 gas, which I am completely unsure because of its public use and lack of recent incidents reported using E15, there is no explanation for this variance. The CRC has not published a new report on this subject since.

In contrast, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a government agency, conducted a thorough review of studies addressing the differences between E10 and E15 in October of 2013. It found no significant durability nor performance differences between the two fuels. It directly responds to the CRC study, and no news outlet has yet to cite this review.

Just the fact the Laboratory report was able to summarize all the studies is a more solid basis to decide whether or not to use E15 gas.

I drive a 2004 Crown Vic (regular naturally aspirated engine). I use E15 gas all the time, but do put in Shell V-Power from time to time. I find I get slightly better mileage, in spite of the government report. Based on what I have read, I would stay away from E15 if you don’t feel comfortable putting it in your car, but for the rest, if it costs less and that is a consideration, then give it a try. Ethanol gas in fact has been shown to reduce engine deposits and be cleaner burning. I have also read that it is harder to cold start ethanol gas, however, so stay skeptical until you know you are using the right gas.

As an early teen in the 60s I would even spend hours reading the JC Whitney catalog… Of course I learned adding ANTHING from their catalog would improve performance and fuel economy…lol

The EPA may have said it’s ok, but I’m going to stick with E10 in my vehicles as that’s what my owners manuals say is the maximum amount of Ethanol allowed. Where I live, the cost difference between E10 and E15 really isn’t great enough to make me want to test the two anyway :slight_smile: That review is a good link, however.

More ethanol means lower BTU’s per gallon so the fuel economy will be worse. More ethanol also means the rubber fuel lines and fuel system seals will degrade that little bit faster. On an older car, that just hastens its demise.

We already deal with the consequences of E10 (over a third of all corn grown is used for ethanol production, requiring lots of fertilizer which increases the ‘dead zone’ in the Gulf of Mexico, along with driving up prices). Why make it worse?

1 Like

I’ve been using gas with E-10 for DECADES. I’ve only heard rumors of problems…never seen or know any who’s had a problem.

Now MTBE - yea…No engine problems using that crap…but extreme environmental problems. There are areas in NH where MTBE is still in the ground water and we band that stuff over a decade ago.

Same here, the only problems I’ve seen have been older cars (pre 1990s) and small engines (like lawnmowers/chainsaws, etc.), though my last 2 lawnmowers haven’t cared that I ran E10 through them

If this Toyota does not have a turbocharger that is programed to compensate for altitude you may be able to use a lower octane gas than is called for. Las Vegas is at 2000’ altitude. I don’t know if that is enough to compensate got 2 octane points or not. Without compensating turbo technology the thinner air drops your effective compression. The ratio stays the same but there is less air inside the cylinder.

I’ve read a study suggesting that E15 will harm valve seats in old-design engines, where “old” is not really that old, something like 10-years

My 2006 Nissan Pathfinder is rated E10 only, specifically tells not to use E15, so I’m gonna stick to it as long as E10 will be around

I will be very sad if lobbyists push through the “E15 only, forget E10 days” thing

Same here. In that study supposedly saying E15 is fine, they say “In most cases increasing ethanol content from 10 to 15 volume percent had no significant effect on elastomer swell.”

In most cases…but not all, right? That’s the whole issue to me, what’ll happen to seals, etc., with E15. Looks like some will have a problem.

2 Likes

With all things being equal, I tend to agree with your theoretical assumptions.

With a flex fuel vehicle that is designed to operate on E85 and adjust automatically to fuel mixes between E10 and E85, maybe the real world measurements of fuel economy running E15 should trump our theoretical assumptions.

Nothing “theoretical” about it - E15 has less BTUs/gallon than E10, which has less than E0. Only reason a car would get better mileage with E15 is if something is wrong with the car, such as if the fuel system is improperly calibrated.

1 Like

The study I’ve read included Chevy Cavalier of yearly 2000s and it demonstrated a substantial valve seats and valves pitting after 200 hrs or so of service on a engine disassembled and checked before experiment. They did not specifically make checks on elastomeres, but also mentioned it is as a questionable area for cars not designed for ethanol. Nice pictures of before and after were included, BTW.

Valves thing will definitely rob the engine of longevity, but the timing is such that a failure will not be immediate, so lobbyists will get away with it, at least initially.

Quoting studies on 20 year old cars that may not have been designed for ethanol is of questionable value. Most vehicles on the road today can use ethanol. All my cars since the late 1990s have run for over 100,000 miles with no engine problems. I prefer E10 to MTBE for the reasons @MikeInNH mentioned above. As I recall, the auto manufactures will not certify their cars will run trouble free on E15, and I want to stay away from it or any higher percentage of ethanol.