Is This Gas? FlexFuel, E85 Ethanol, and BioFuel Explained
Friday, November 14, 2008 11:18I recently noticed a 2009 Chevy Impala which had a “FlexFuel” designation on its trunk. Underneath, in small letters, it said “E85 Ethanol.” I asked the driver if he knew what that meant, and he said “No.” I couldn’t believe it - he didn’t know the what the flex fuel designation meant on his own car!?! It turns out there’s a whole new breed of FFV, or Flex Fuel Vehicles, out there on the market and many consumers don’t even know what they are.
First, let me explain what ethanol is. Ethanol is known by several other names: ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol. That’s right - it’s the heavy stuff we drink to get drunk. But it can be used as a fuel or fuel additive. The ironic truth is Henry Ford designed his first car, the Model T, to run completely on 100% ethyl alcohol way back in the early 1900s. But today the U.S. gov’t doesn’t allow 100% pure ethanol as a fuel.
E85 Ethanol is a type of biofuel. In the U.S. it is mainly produced by distilling corn. Not surprisingly, it’s more popular in the midwest where we have a lot of corn being grown. According to Wiki, E85 is an “alcohol fuel mixture that typically contains a mixture of up to 85% denatured fuel ethanol and gasoline or other hydrocarbon (HC) by volume.” There’s a lot of controversy around using E85 as a biofuel, since it may have an even bigger carbon footprint than traditional fuel.
E85 is a bit cheaper than gas; currently it’s about .20 to .30 cents less per gallon; of course, you’ve got to find a station which is selling it. But there are plenty of cars on the market which will run on E85, and according to Chevy, they’ve been making FlexFuel cars which will run on biofuel for the past 8 years.
Online Game says:
November 14th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
somehow that looks a bit like a space car.
Don says:
November 14th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Ethanol also contains less energy per gallon than gasoline, so using E85 will reduce your fuel economy by 20-30% - in light of this, the price difference should be bigger than $0.30 per gallon
Andy says:
November 14th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
I don´t think that using Ethanol from food plants is a good idea. We will need this food to feed our children instead driving big cars.
Indeed there is also here in Europe a discussion whether the net balance is good - many people have doubts
Buy a smaller or more efficient car, drive less, use a bike - these are simple things to save money and the environment.
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SEO Sultan says:
November 14th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
The idea of moving from oil to ethanol seemed great, but no one realized the grave danger that it would have in something even more important, food prices. Why would a farmer continue to grow corn, when he can much more easily sell it to be used to produce ethanol and get a larger profit margin.
It’s upsetting to know that in the future there’s going to be a battle between food costs and fuel. We have to risk one of the other.
Suzuki Hayabusa says:
November 14th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Ethanol is a good alternative to using petrol. Some countries have started using a mix of petrol and ethanol, a lot has to be done in this regard.
Thanks for a wonderful article.
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FIFA Player Agent says:
November 15th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
It will be interesting to see if the rise of biofuels leads to increasing food prices. I’m worried that poorer countries will divert farming resources to producing fuel rather than food for their people.