I know Ford is working on E85 to bring it to the Hybrid market, My question is has any one else took a chance on E85 with their Hybrids? I Decided to fill-up 25% of my tank with the stuff in my Tribute Hybrid and it doesnt seem to make a difference. I still get my 36 MPG.
Am I playing with fire here??

I know I'm not suppose to but with high gas prices who's to say otherwise?

 

There are several discussions over in the Escape forums about this.

It appears that you can technically run these on E85, but you'll take a substantial hit in fuel economy. No one has really done so long enough to report any long-term harm this may cause, although short term things seem to be o.k..

Drivers in some states who have switched over from true Unleaded to E10 (90% Gas, 10% Alcohol) are reporting a 10-15% hit in fuel economy.

Running a mixture of E20 (20% Alcohol) to E30 (30% Alcohol) seems to be the 'sweet spot' in which the vehicle runs well and doesn't take a hit in fuel economy (apparently most vehicles actually get more fuel economy with E30 than with E10!).

Most fuel system components are likely to be compatible with E85 (Probably anything 1995+ shouldn't see any problems), but the biggest worries have to do with long-term effects the Alcohol might have with the aluminum engine. Apparently Alcohol and aluminum don't play well together.

Like I said, short term the worst that will happen is you'll lose economy, and possibly might see a check engine light, but if that happens you simply go back to regular gas and it should correct itself. Long term? Well nobody is quite sure just yet...

 

If you are still under warranty... I'd say yes. If something were to go wrong in the engine, they can probably check the fuel trim, say you were burning E85 in a non flex engine-- and void the warranty.

 

Don't just repeat poorly documented information. Ethanol has 30% less energy than gasoline by volume so 10% ethanol will generally reduce MPG by 3% and 20% Ethanol will reduce MPG by 6%.

This also messes up the discussions on diesel efficiency as diesel fuel has 30 % more energy than gasoline (due to a higher carbon content) and therefore diesels get about 30% better MPG than gasoline engines (but have a higher CO2 output as well as higher real pollutants).

JeffD

 

Here is the link to a study about mid-grade ethanol blends and mpg: http://www.ethanol.org/pdf/contentmg...se_12507-1.pdf

Here is a link to a long term effect (60,000 miles) of using E85 in an unmodified Prius:
http://www.creedproject.org/stream_v11n1.pdf
other links to the unmodified E85 Prius:
http://www.creedproject.org/stream_v7n1.pdf
http://www.creedproject.org/stream_v7n2.pdf

service report at 60,000 miles:
from the 60,000 mile service performed
on Roger Aiken's Prius. I found that the engine was in extremely
clean condition. I removed the valve cover to inspect
the upper portion of the engine and I feel that it was cleaner
than a normal gas operated engine. I also removed the injectors
and inspected them and found that the deposits were less
than a normal gas operated Prius. The Engine oil has always
been noticeably cleaner when I change the oil. The same findings
were on the spark plugs, they had hardly any deposits on
them. I would have to say other than the smell (which I am
not used to yet) the E85 operated Prius is cleaner than a gas operated one.

Michael Ahlers, Master Diagnostic Technician, Carlson Toyota.

I have run E20 to E30 in Escape Hybrid with no problems. I have posted a graph of my 271 mile interstate driving experience in the Escape Section. Where I live, E85 is hard to find and not in my immediate area. GPSman1 is the only person I know that has run his Escape on E85 but he was using a convertor box to do so. You will need to purchase one of these boxes--do a search as there are several vendors that sell these.

In the Mid-West, E85 is selling (can be found) as low as the $2.70 gallon range. That is over a $1.00 a gallon cheaper than straight gasoline where I live.

If ethanol has 30% less energy than gasoline and does not cause a 30% drop in fuel economy, where in the heck does the rest of the % go? Seems like ethanol is more effient than gasoline from this stand point.

 

Energy content does NOT equal miles per gallon.
While there is some relationship, the relationship is not always a direct one.

Every ( no plug ) hybrid runs on gasoline, and ONLY gasoline.

So why do hybrids get more than 50% better MPG???
LOL!

You can run a car with pure ethanol and get MORE miles per gallon than pure gas, if the alcohol is used more efficiently than the gas. This is a big "IF" but it is also a very possible and easy to make reality "IF".

Say 80% of the energy of gasoline goes into heat, and 20% goes into motion, ( it does ) and when you burn E30 only 70% of the energy goes into heat, and 30% of it goes into motion, then with less energy per gallon, you can move the same distance per gallon.

Only catch! Ethanol is CHEAPER!!!!


3500 miles with E85 in a std FEH and doing great.
I got the best MPG with about E25 or E30, but the COST PER MILE is sometimes less with E85. -John

 

Some testing in my own 2005 FEH.

 

I think the increase in Horsepower is a big factor in why vehicles tend to get more MPG with E30 than with E10.

With E10, you're screwing things up just enough to make the computer tend to overcompensate and such, without any of the benefits. With E30, you start to see a substantial increase in Horsepower (nothing drastic mind you, but enough to keep you off the throttle a little bit more) which helps with MPG.

Nobody is saying the Ethanol is going to result in better MPG than pure gasoline... we're talking about blends here.

I can attest to the HP increase with E85 though. My Ranger (2000 B3000 actually) was flex-fuel, and absolutely LOVED E85... more pep... smoother idle... everything just worked smoother.. and better. Throttle response increased, and to be honest, I didn't really notice THAT MUCH of a MPG drop. That is, if I drove it conservatively.

When I DID get on it and get aggressive with my driving habits, that's where the big difference in E85 vs. Gasoline MPGs really reared it's ugly head! (I'd say a 10-15% hit for conservative driving compared to E10... compared to 35-40% hit for aggressive driving)

 

I actually got 36.2 mpg with E30 -or was it E25?--during this past Sunday. During this 203 mile drive, I monitored my scanguage and noted an 8-11% increase in the fuel trim. I did notice a decrease in the fuel trim value during non-acceleration phases of driving. In other words, initially after my fillup I may of had a 2% fuel trim during non-acceration and 203 miles later, the fuel trim value displayed negative values. During acceleration, there was no change in fuel trim values during acceleration during the course of the 203 mile drive.e8581708gave362mpgbetterthanstraigh.jpg?t=1219287039

E85tank81708203miles.jpg?t=1219287112