E-85

[Yamvip]

Just filled her up again for 2.63 a gallon unleaded 3.15

 

[Yamvip]

Also i have noticed it using less rpm to go certain speeds, I have replaced the plugs, fuel filter, and all fluids. I'm wondering if its because of the E-85, or the other, or probably both????? This is my second tank in a row of E=85, I'm letting the puter learn, then the third tank i'm going to record the miles per gallon.

 

[E.B. Cornburner]

It shouldn't matter what fuel you're using in regards to a certain road speed vs. RPM. Unless you're looking at the RPM when the torque convertor is unlocked, but then there's lots of variables involved. When the torque convertor clutch is locked, it's just like a stickshift car, where the tranny and engine are mechanically coupled together. Your RPM at a given road speed would always be the same once the convertor is locked, regardless of load, fuel, etc.

Oh, BTW...$3.099/gal for unleaded, $2.359/gal for E85 as of today here.

What would be cool is if there was a very efficient way to transport ethanol. Brazil has a surplus of it, and wholesale cost is around $1 USD/gallon! If they'd export a substantial amount to us, that could easily offset quite a bit of Middle East oil used for refining into gasoline.
Down there, they offer E98 (read: 100% denatured anhydrous ethanol) under the name "Alcool", and it's roughly half the price of regular unleaded. Even their gasoline is blended with 28% ethanol, and they use it in any non-FFV that still reqires gasoline. Here, E98 isn't really feasable due to cold start issues. Down there, the weather is generally warm enough that it doesn't affect it. No fuel system problems have really been noticed or reported with that higher blend in their gasoline either. I know MN is working towards a statewide 20% mandate by 2012.

 

[E.B. Cornburner]

it's not just the emissions your vehicle emits, for the overall process (from the fields to out your tailpipe) you have to put in the equivilent of 5-7 times the energy that you get out of ethanol. for gasoline it is much lower.

I don't buy that. Look at all the various components that go into gasoline, and the extensive refining processes that go into each of them, all requiring a lot of energy to produce. Gasoline is a much more complicated fuel than most people think, and regional blend laws make it even more complicated. Right now, throughout the US, there's no less than a dozen or so different gasoline blends at the pumps, based on where you're located.

There's two sides to that arguement...The pro-oil people tend to think the way you are, and skew their tests accordingly, and the pro-ethanol people, still guilty of the same thing, are skewing the numbers the other way.

I look at it this way...If I can buy a fuel that's considerably cheaper than gasoline, get similar performance and driveability out of it, and support the local farmers and economy in the process, I'd be a fool not to.
Like was mentioned earlier about ethanol raising the price of food...Do you really think that the prices would go back down if people stopped producing or using ethanol? Of course not! The suppliers would just see extra profits in their pockets. Same goes with oil/gasoline...People have been buying more fuel efficient cars as of late, but the fuel prices continue to climb. Wouldn't you think based on the law of supply and demand that if we as a driving public were using less gasoline and/or diesel fuel, the price would go down? It hasn't, has it? But, the profits of the big oil companies has been setting records nearly every quarter. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's going on.

So that brings me back to my original point...Nothing's going to change if I don't use ethanol, so I'll keep on using it, saving an average of $20+ per tankful.

 

[CDW6212R]

Mike you are wrong about the price of food and the affect corn use for fuel has on it. The prices are higher now because of the market affects of having a greater demand for corn. If the demand for corn returned to near the level it was before the pressures of fuel use for it, the prices would adjust.

That is exactly what supply and demand is about. Manufacturers do not set prices without consequences. This is not a fascist country yet, where the government sets prices and controls the whole economy. In that case there would be no affect on prices. Here in our current free economy, when demand goes up, prices will change. When demand for a commodity(corn) goes down, the prices of those products will change.

Buy the best fuel in your area, but at the same time pressure your leaders to give incentives for the best alternatives. Corn is not the best alternative fuel additive, we simply have a massive ability to produce corn. Give farmers a free market reason to grow something else, and they will. Regards,

 

[rpwdh]

www.e85refueling.com

There are two "future" stations in my area and two "private, no public access"
(NYS Thruway Department)
Why the ham sandwich do they list those if I can't get at them?

For corn sake!

Hey... wait a minute!

Fred always said "For corn sake"!

He was married to Ethyl.

Ethyl... Ethanol... E85!!

OMG, IT'S A SIGN FROM ABOVE!!!

 

[E.B. Cornburner]

ROTFL, that's pretty funny.