http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071231/...RUO93_GtpH2ocA

Missouri, Minnesota, and Hawaii are mandating ethanol blends. Fourteen states have no requirement that gasoline pumps be plastered with ethanol labels. If your mileage has been fluctuating or taking a dive, this could be a cause.

 

If filled up the other day at a gas station out of town. When I was done fueling I saw the 10% ethanol sign! It wasn't cheaper like E10 should be either!

 

Due to the large government subsidies, it is cheaper for the oil companies and gas stations. It's funny how those savings don't get passed on to consumers. At least your pump was marked. If it was switch grass ethanol, I wouldn't mind the lack of marking so much because it wouldn't negatively impact our mpg like the corn ethanol does.

 

several of us are doing long term testing with blending with E85: https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...-should-16411/ testing has shown that cars prefer about E30 for best MPGs overall. Although the initial tests for me so far is a slight negative but waiting for longer term results.

 

I have read that, but I don't live near any E85 stations. I wouldn't mind the drive if my car took pure E85, but I have heard the conversion kits aren't good, for a number of reasons. I guess I'll have to wait a few years...

 

Ethanol at 10% ( except CA who uses 6% ) is in 54% of all gas sold in the US. It is estimated that by the end of this year, we will have and additional 5 billion gallons produced compared to 2007. By the end of 2009, we could have 10 billion gallons more on the market than today.

I've seen the brick and motor going up for the 5 billion gallons in additional production slated for 2008. 5 billion on top of that is proposed for 2009, but not under construction, yet.

It looks like there is a significant drop in MPG moving from pure gas to E10.
It looks like there is slight, ( 2% or less ) addtional MPG drop moving from E10 to E30. So whatever hit you see with E10, you probably won't see any worst from E30.

Try it, and report back. Fadi, ( MiaTurbo ) has with good results in his HCH. The HCH loses less MPG percentage wise than the Ford Escape Hybrid.

 

"If it was switch grass ethanol, I wouldn't mind the lack of marking so much because it wouldn't negatively impact our mpg like the corn ethanol does."

Why would switch-grass ethanol have more energy? It doesn't matter if the ethanol comes from corn or from switch-grass. It's still ethanol. It should be the same thing chemically, correct?

 

Correct. Ethanol is ethanol. I figure wires got twisted somewhere in that earlier post.

Corn based takes 3 gallons of gasoline equivalent to make 5 gallons of ethanol.

With swichgrass... that number may be 2 gallons of gas to make 5, due to less needs for tractors, irregation, etc. ( just a rough guess )

 

I'm in complete agreement here with GPSMan1 and jat1793.

How much energy it TAKES to create Ethanol varies based on the source, but the Ethanol itself, once produced, should be the same.

Also, I like the results GPSMan1 and Fadi have shown.
The estimated losses for higher Ethanol % mixes seem to be worse than they may really be. This is a good thing for the Ethanol future, if it's a general truth. It would make Ethanol make more cent, er, sense.