Has anyone tried ethanol in their HAH? - GreenHybrid

SuperC · #1 (**permalink**) 05-19-2005, 02:29 PM

I was reading the manual the other day and learned that Honda says it's perfectly fine to use an ethanol blended gasoline like ethanol or gasohol in the hybrid. Their only stipulation was that the octane rating be at least 87. Most ethanol based fuels I've seen are in the 90s.

There is a grain alcohol for fuel plant here and the fuel is readily available, although I am not certain there's any savings pricewise. Just curious if anyone else had tried running it in their hybrids and what the results were.

Thanks

GreenAndBlue · #2 (**permalink**) 05-19-2005, 03:29 PM

Hmm...I didn't recall reading *that* in my owner's manual, so I dug out my copy, and looked at page 152...

W/ regard to octane, they actually say '86 or higher'... you have to give kudos to Honda for having a 240hp V6 run on 86 octane (my 200hp '01 coupe ran on regular as well - but the Camry V6 didn't / doesn't, and I don't know about the Maxima or the Altima in V6 trim).

They do say not to run more than 10% ethanol by volume, and I'd check on this at your pump before putting it in your car.

Over here in IL, most octanes below 'premium' (91 here) have 10% ethanol in them, so we run it all the time here (and on the 'premium' blends, only BP Amoco that I know of states that their premium ('Ultimate') does not contain it).

From what I understand, an E10 blend saves 10% over using 100% gasoline, but FE suffers by... 10%. So it's really a wash (but the corn lobby loves it, and I think that's why you see it so prevalent). A similar thing exists with biodiesel - if you derive it from agricultural sources, it's 'energy negative' - meaning that it costs more energy to produce it, than you derive from the use of it. But I digress.

In Brazil and some other parts of the world, they use E85 (85% ethanol) successfully - their cars can use either fuel. They only get about 60 % (?) of the FE vs using 100% gasoline - but since E85 is 15% (?) of the cost, it makes financial sense. Thus, 80% or more of car owners there are running E85

Bottom line - go ahead and use an E10 blend - but keep us posted on your FE numbers. We don't have anything else to use as a baseline around here, since all we have for the most part, is E10.

Oh - and one last thing regarding octane - though our car can get by just fine on regular 86, Honda engineers admit that the current J30 in the Accord will gain +10hp if you use 91 octane or better. It'll take about 2/3 or 3/4 through that first tankful to recognize the gain, but it'll be there. Not really useful in our circumstances, but the V6 coupes with 6MT *love* it, as do the TL owners with their J32's

SuperC · #3 (**permalink**) 05-19-2005, 07:41 PM

Mark, I agree with your review of the owner's manual specs for fuel. I've heard that about the higher grade fuel adding horsepower as well. I may take a look at the price difference and try it when I've got a good baseline established with regular gas.