I recently drove through the midwest and saw signs at gas stations for E85 fuel at about 50 cents less a gallon than regular. Can I use this and, if not, what vehicles can?
Slow down, Turbo! When it comes down to it, E85 can be taxed and otherwise exploited just as petroleum has. Think way back to the early 80s when people were buying up all those cars that manufacturers started putting diesel engines in. The price of diesel fuel skyrocketed and has been more per gallon since then. Then people were stuck with poorly made cars that had diesel engines in them that were made hastily. The only thing we can really do is vote the right people into office. Weather anyone likes it or not, Bush is right. The petroleum industry is not the bad guy here, the taxation per gallon for the sake of experimentation into alternative fuels is a joke. We need to put more of the taxed revenue into research and developement of finding more domestic sources until an intelligent conversion from petroleum can be made. Don’t be a victim of the once “Free-Press,” and Clinton treachery.
Beefy Norm is right that ethanol isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, although not for the insane reasons he cites.
You can run E85 only if you have a flex-fuel vehicle-- generally recently built GM and Ford products. Usually there’s a badge on the car somewhere, but you need to check your owner’s manual to be sure. Be aware that even flex-fuel vehicles usually take a pretty big gas mileage hit using ethanol, something like 15-20% fewer MPG’s. 50 cents less a gallon is cheaper than E85 is most places-- around here there used to be an E85 pump that was only about 20 cents cheaper-- so it might wind up being worth it for you if do indeed have a flex-fuel vehicle.
you can use e85 fuel in your auto IF it has a “flex fuel” engine in it.
if you have an engine NOT rated for flex fuel, then you risk eating up rubber seals, gaskets, and o-rings.
the down side to e85 is it gives about 10% less MPG.
The downside to E85 is that it takes more energy to produce than it is worth…there is a good amount of hydrocarbons burned in the refining process of ethanol.
Norm, you really don’t have to answer everyone’s technical questions with some random political rant. We get it, “You’re as mad as hell, and you’re not going to take this anymore!”
As the others have said, you can only use E85 if cars that are specifically designed to use it, “flex fuel” vehicles.
i’ve always wondered about that, but politics being what they are…
A lot of fuel sold during the winter is already E5 or E10. That works fine in most any car. E-85 takes a flexible fuel engine and fuel system.
Often but not always the various EXX fuels will cost less than straight gasoline. however, it has less energy than gasoline and you will get less mileage, so you may save nothing or it may even cost you more.
I would not try it.
good call but the MPG will take a bigger hit than that
Norm…SHUT UP!!! go find something to do
E85 is made from corn. It is essentially good old fashioned moonshine minus the sugar. You must have a flex fuel vehicle to run this fuel.
Ethanol is identical to moonshine, except that it is illegally distributed. The sugar ferments and becomes alcohol; ethanol in both cases, since corn whiskey is ethanol.
Burning a pound of ethanol results in 12800 BTU of heat.
A pound of gasoline releases somewhere in the neighborhood of 19,000 BTU of heat.
There’s more energy in gas and that means your engine needs to use less of it.
My problems with the whole E85 issue are that
(1)the agricultural industry to its great credit has productive and profitable markets for all of its products AND byproducts. There is virtually no waste product. Increasing agricultural output significantly enough to have any effect on the consumption of gasoline would require substantial investments in capitol and would by it’s very nature convert much currently unfarmed land into agricultural production.
(2) the scientific community has still not answered the question of whether the fuel used to grow the added crops and produce and distribute the ethenol would be less than the ethenol would save in dino fuels. I’v read conflicting reports.
(3) billions are spent by the feds every year in subsidies to agribusinesses for them to NOT grow crops in order to sustain prices. If we go toward E85, the subsidies should be discontinued. Let the agribusinesses grow the grains to make the ethenol to make their profits.
In short, I think there’s more politics in E85 than science.