E85 Fuel, cheaper than petrol, but not all vehicles can burn it...

[Dixie]

This is an alternative fuel made from starch and sugars, and has a blend of petrol in with it. It is cheaper than regular unleaded petrol, but very few stations sell it, and not all vehicles can burn it.


We need more of these. I have noticed that several Chevy models are FlexFuel rated meaning it can burn either regular unleaded fuel or E85 fuel. Instead of clamping down on the MPG of the entire fleet (Bush and his half-baked ideas), wouldnt it be simpler to mandate by 2010 that all new models must be FlexFuel rated to meet new gov't standards. By 2020 more than half of all American vehicles on the road would be FlexFuel rated, and also all gas stations must offer this cheaper alternative to customers by 2015. (IE one pump is a designated E85 pump) And hopefully by the end of the century regular petrol would be completely phased out as ALL vehicles would be FlexFuel rated. And all gas stations would be selling it. Our dependence on crude oil drops dramatically, and there is peace in the middle East again. What do you say to that?

Also, if you are curious to know if your vehicle can burn this fuel, click here to see if your vehicle is on the list:
http://www.renewe85.com/FFVlist2007.pdf

And to find an E85 station nearest you, click here:
National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition

If you own a vehicle that currently does not burn E85 fuel, you can have it converted, but it is expensive, but if you intend on keeping the vehicle for a very long time, it will be worth the conversion.

 

[sequoias]

It may be cheaper, but you still spend about the same amount or even more fuel since E85 has lower gas mileage than regular gasoline. It may benefit with low emissions regulations.

I do not support E85 and I would prefer electric cars, hybrid cars, clean diesel cars, etc. E85 is a very bad move in my opinion.

 

[Chevy57]

It may be cheaper, but you still spend about the same amount or even more fuel since E85 has lower gas mileage than regular gasoline. It may benefit with low emissions regulations.

I do not support E85 and I would prefer electric cars, hybrid cars, clean diesel cars, etc. E85 is a very bad move in my opinion.

Sequoias, I agree. You can calculate the cost of driving the selected vehicle, gallons of gasoline saved, and pounds of greenhouse gases saved by fueling with E85.


Chevrolet Tahoe:
Avg. E85 fuel price: 3.50 per gallon
Avg. Gasoline fuel price: 3.95 per gallon

Mileage:
E85 - 12.50 mpg
Gasoline (Petrol) - 16.18 mpg

Cost to drive this vehicle fueled in E85 at $4,200 per year.
Cost to drive the vehiclle fueled in Gasoline at $3,662 per year.

AFDC: Vehicles - Flexible Fuel Calculator

I do not support E85. I would prefer Plug-in Hybird Electric Vehicle (PHEV) or Fuel-cell vehicle.

See more info on Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center.
EERE: Alternative Fuels and Advanced Vehicles Data Center Program Home Page

 

[HorseRace]

mmm interesting.. i dont know if my truck would effect by it.. or would it work with that gas?? i dontknow.. my truck is toyota tacoma 98.. so i dont think it is .. i did check out that link .... so there is not on the list.. oh well

 

[purplecatty]

Yup. E85 burns cooler than gasoline. And it burns fast. So that's why engine is running weaker than gasoline. Means accelerate a bit more to maintain mph than you do on gasoline.

That's the difference. My mower use up more E85 than it would do on gasoline. I had to adjust jet and bump the carb to "near" choke in order to have same power as gasoline to cut grass.

Catty

 

[HorseRace]

isee! then i wont use it.. i still keep wanna to get hybrid or something.. like other thread i wait for thier result ..

 

[crankshaft]

It may be cheaper, but you still spend about the same amount or even more fuel since E85 has lower gas mileage than regular gasoline. It may benefit with low emissions regulations.

I do not support E85 and I would prefer electric cars, hybrid cars, clean diesel cars, etc. E85 is a very bad move in my opinion.

I approved ur message....


I would go for compressed air... since u can just air it up with compressed and off u go. it works just like locomotive engine but better.. electric is cool.. but I dont want to be stuck at electric station to be recharge for couple of hours.... but maybe in the near future it wont be that long???

 

[crankshaft]

Yup. E85 burns cooler than gasoline. And it burns fast. So that's why engine is running weaker than gasoline. Means accelerate a bit more to maintain mph than you do on gasoline.

That's the difference. My mower use up more E85 than it would do on gasoline. I had to adjust jet and bump the carb to "near" choke in order to have same power as gasoline to cut grass.

Catty

why go all the trouble for that E85?.. it's just a lawnmower. u'll have to fill her up more often than u do on gasoline???

oh wait.. I guess I'm lazy and dont want to fill her up more often.. lol... o'well

 

[sequoias]

I approved ur message....


I would go for compressed air... since u can just air it up with compressed and off u go. it works just like locomotive engine but better.. electric is cool.. but I dont want to be stuck at electric station to be recharge for couple of hours.... but maybe in the near future it wont be that long???

I like compressed air powered cars, zero emissions out of the exhaust. The only energy is to store air into the tank which needs fossil fuel or other power source. Plus, air is very cheap and plentiful.

I think solar panels will get smaller and smaller and will get more voltage to quickly recharge batteries when the batteries are low while on the trip. There could be a compact inverter to convert the wattage like only 170 watt solar panel to over 1500-2000 watts.

 

[diehardbiker]

I am opposed to E85, why? They have caused food prices increases lately!!! Farmers are now shortage for corn, wheat, and other stuff because they were funneled into Ethanol refinery.

We need to focus on something that would not affect food and other everyday necessities.

My home state has decided to scrap the idea of adding more Ethanol refinery because they see more problems down the road and is not worth the long term investment.

I sure hope that Fuel cell will become reality because I don't see how they can affect our food, and other daily necessities. Its just water and will always recycle itself naturally. Hence it is 100% renewable plus I believe it will cause more rain which in turn can cool down the global warming.

 

[purplecatty]

why go all the trouble for that E85?.. it's just a lawnmower. u'll have to fill her up more often than u do on gasoline???

oh wait.. I guess I'm lazy and dont want to fill her up more often.. lol... o'well

I didn't go all through the trouble on E85 mower. I was just playing with it to see if it works. It would be a good to know if Gasoline are no longer around and E85 or perhap pure Alcohol without 15% gasoline (Moonshine) would be alternative to gasoline to run the mower. Ask Hillybilly to sell you Moonshines to tank up your car.

PS: I switched back to gasoline for mower after the E85 experiment. E85 are not available in my area, I bought it from another city 20 minutes away. Not worth it.

Catty

 

[Calvin]

I didn't go all through the trouble on E85 mower. I was just playing with it to see if it works. It would be a good to know if Gasoline are no longer around and E85 or perhap pure Alcohol without 15% gasoline (Moonshine) would be alternative to gasoline to run the mower. Ask Hillybilly to sell you Moonshines to tank up your car.

Catty

Or visit Kentucky, plenty of moonshiners there

 

[crankshaft]

I didn't go all through the trouble on E85 mower. I was just playing with it to see if it works. It would be a good to know if Gasoline are no longer around and E85 or perhap pure Alcohol without 15% gasoline (Moonshine) would be alternative to gasoline to run the mower. Ask Hillybilly to sell you Moonshines to tank up your car.

PS: I switched back to gasoline for mower after the E85 experiment. E85 are not available in my area, I bought it from another city 20 minutes away. Not worth it.

Catty

LOL I dont know any guy that produce any moonshine.. 1 liter of everclear (190prooof) is around $20 bucks for 750 mililiter... I guess gasoline is still cheap compare to this.. lol... o'well...


just sayin'

 

[HorseRace]

Cal yea ky have those....

 

[Foxrac]

Fuck to E85

I prefer to use regular gas over E85 for now.

I'm gotta agree with most ADers.

 

[Reba]

I am opposed to E85, why? They have caused food prices increases lately!!! Farmers are now shortage for corn, wheat, and other stuff because they were funneled into Ethanol refinery....

Yes, that's my concern also.

 

[purplecatty]

Or visit Kentucky, plenty of moonshiners there

Try visit Ozark mountains in southeast Missouri and Arkansas.

Catty

 

[Foxrac]

Wait, just check out this link...

High Food Prices: Ethanol is Not the Problem

I'm the first to admit that the current round of ethanol is not perfect. The rising demand for ethanol has put more land under cultivation, increased water shortages, and increased fertilizer and pesticide use. For all that, corn isn't really a great way to create ethanol, only producing 1.3 units of energy for every 1 unit put into its creation.

However, it is NOT responsible for the 40% increase in food prices over the last few years. It might seem like an easy target, but let's start with some logic, and then move into the solid figures.

First, how could an increased demand for non-edible corn (used mostly to make high fructose corn syrup and feed for cattle, chicken and pigs) increase prices of pasta in Italy, onions in India and rice in China?

Second, is there any other trend, besides the increase in biofuel production that could be blamed for rising food costs. Any trend at all? Possibly a larger, more global, more significant, and much more difficult to deal with trend?

Yes, it turns out that there are two such trends. The rising prosperity of people in the world, who are now happy to be eating more (and more meat). And second, the related rise in fuel prices, due to increased demand in developing countries.

Of the 40% increase in food prices, about 3% can be attributed to food crops being used in biofuels. At least 8% (PDF) can be attributed to rising costs of fuel used to grow and transport the crops from farms to the grocer. But the big hunk comes in with increased demand.

As the world has become more prosperous, more people have begun to eat more food. Particularly in China and India, more people have begun to eat meat regularly. Simultaneously investors, seeking non-mortgage or debt-based assets to invest in, have begun to speculate on food crops. Assuming that costs will continue to increase along with increased affluence in the developing world, the commodities markets in food products have spiked.

Simultaneously, fertilizer prices have skyrocketed as they are also created from petroleum, and peculiar weather patterns and frequent droughts, possibly linked to global warming, have limited supply.

All-in-all, it's not a good time to be burning what can otherwise be eaten. But there is no good reason to say that biofuels are the one and only problem. SUV's are certainly limiting the future of the world, but not by burning hungry people's food.

Corn ethanol is never going to be the whole solution, and we are very excited about the many cellulosic ethanol companies entering the market, but I'm tired of hearing about the supposed evils of ethanol. Let's lay the blame where it belongs...greedy commodity investors, meat production, and the rising price of oil.

High Food Prices: Ethanol is Not the Problem | EcoGeek

 

[Foxrac]

Yes, that's my concern also.

Hate to say, drilling oil in AK or offshore wouldn't solve the issue for demand and supply, it will be very limited and going run out in short years, it wouldn't completely replace from import oil, now... we are struck with import oil until we can find other energy source to replace the oil.

There's link about oil reserve, you can see about very limited in USA.
Oil reserves - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Drilling the oil in USA isn't answer, I'm withdraw the support of drilling after found some of research and affect to environment too.

We need save oil for plastic, lubricant, motor oil, grease and others.

 

[Foxrac]

For me, I'm support hydrogen, fuel cell car, looks so sexy.

Forgot to mention on high food price, the weather in midwest is really horrible and crops are drowned, that cause food price goes up, it will return to normal after recovery.