With the price for a barrel of oil going up, up and away, it might be interesting to follow the price of E85. John (GPSMAN1) previously posted a photo of a station selling E85 $1.10 a gallon less than regular pure gasoline. I'm in Northern Wisconsin attending to an ailing family member and found E85 at $.75 gallon less than regular.


E85 may be cheaper than regular gasoline if there is enough of a difference between the two fuel types. Then, almost all of us may need the E85 conversion kit previously detailed by GPSMAN1.

 

Nice post and nice photo! Thanks for sharing!


I would like to point out that I'm reading about more and more people find E30, or 30% ethanol yields 'about' the same MPG as pure gas, and can save you $. ANY CAR on the road can use 30% ethanol with no modifications.

Above 40% ethanol and MPG for sure drops, but cost per mile does not always drop.

I run full E85 with a computer chip modification ( no engine mods ) and get about 30% lower MPG on E85. In the mid-west, I can find E85 for 30% lower price, so I break even. -John

 

Bill-

Also you need to consider that E85 is "super premium" at 105 Octane.
It is, for practical purposes, racing fuel.
Thus, you can say E85 costs 90 cents less than the "premium" gas in your photo.

 

Thanks for an educational update. I forgot about your previous post on the higher octane rating for E85. Your previous "hands-on research/field testing" may be perfect timing if pure gasoline prices continues upward while E85 stabilizes in pricing. A couple of thoughts:

-Does this site need a "sticky" for ethanol and/or blends of it where users can post research documents
-Have you modified your E85 computer chip so a user can "twist" a dial to match the percent of ethanol in their fuel?

Maybe I helped answer this sticky question with the following articles:
• http://www.ethanol.org/pdf/contentmg..._Report.pdf--- no drivability problems
• http://www.scientific.net/0-87849-432-4/1093/ Corrosion Behavior of Metallic Materials in Ethanol-Gasoline Alternative Fuels
• Benefits from Ethanol Blends between E20 and E40 Greater than Expected http://jcwinnie.biz/wordpress/?p=2669
• ACE:BTUs Don't Determine MPGs http://www.dtnethanolcenter.com/inde...&pid=30&mid=67
• http://www.infozine.com/news/stories...iew/sid/25998/ Ethanol mileage, Environmental Effects Better Than Gasoline
• http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007...finds-cer.html Study Finds Certain Ethanol Blends Can Provide Better Fuel Economy Than Gasoline

I know some of you will point out to a conflict of interest in these studies but this information is out there. I'm currently on a dial up in this location and there is a limit on how much data I can find.

 

These are a little old, but still informative:

http://www.moscowfood.coop/archive/ethanol.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...6_ethanol.html

 

It bears repeating that mileage suffers by 25%-35% when running E85, since it contains only about 2/3 the energy of gasoline. Octane ratings have nothing to do with the energy content of fuel. When it comes to petroleum products, it's safe to say that a high octane rating almost always indicates lower, not higher, energy.

For most users, the established threshold is 1/3: If E85 is 1/3 cheaper ($2.30 per gallon at this location) then economic parity is likely. Anything more and you're probably spending more per mile. Some E85-capable vehicles have been shown to approach parity at 25%, but almost all studies have shown a number of 30% or more.

The good news is that you'll emit somewhat less smog-forming pollutants, so it may be worth the price to be more "green".

 

Very True. I was thinking that manufacturer's who recommend premium for thier cars should also recommend E85 since it is the cat's meow of octane rating.

I'm getting ~ 24 MPG on E85, but that is in Jan/Feb of this year.
Say my FEH gets 32 MPG from gas in Winter, and that means:

24/32 = 75%. So I'm doing about 75% as well ( 25% less ) on E85.

Truth be told, in winter, E85 can have more than 15% gas...
In the north, I've found stations selling E70 and E79.
Both are perfectly legal. They just don't change the labels in winter.
So I do think the MPG closely follows the btu curve.
-John

 

In this country, we use corn as a base for ethanol. In
Brazil, they use sugar cane. Is there a btu difference between ethanol from sugar cane and corn? If there is a difference in btu content between these two products, then is there an alternative in this country for ethanol production?

 

Ethanol is ethanol... so the BTU content is the same for the finished product. I think what you are asking is if one is more efficient. The answer is yes. Corn is a pretty poor way of producing ethanol. Sugar cane is vastly more efficient.... (although the burning of the fields of caine isn't the best for the environment I've heard). Problem is... sugar caine needs a fairly warm environment, making it only suitable for planting in the southern states.

 

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