MNgopher
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- June 30, 2008
- Messages
- 259
- Reaction score
- 61
- City, State
- Lakeville, MN
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '21 Explorer XLT
Amazing where this thread has wandered...
The OP was looking for info on whether E85 would help with pinging, how it would affect fuel mileage, and maintenance.
Answers: It is higher octane, but that may not eliminate pinging. Sure sounds like something else is going on there... Fuel mileage will be 20-25% lower than an E10 fuel (related to the 30% lower energy content). Maintenance wise, there are zero issues with running it per fleet use that I've seen.
We've instead covered ground about fuel taxes and what would happen if, checks notes, the impact on pricing if everyone switched to E85. Why I bother going down the rabbit holes, I'll never know.
For what its worth, anything that is manufactured in quantities of 1.0 Million Barrels per day in recent weeks (being ethanol) is not limited in manufacturing capacity. In addition, the US is a large exporter of ethanol because it has excess ethanal production capacity, plus it has more that is currently not being used as the demand is not there in the US. The constraint today is the retail availability of the product, particularly outside of the corn belt. The arguement that prices will go up if everyone starts using it are correct, until the market rebalances itself.
Its always been the same story. There are times that E0, or E10, or E15, or E85 make more sense due to supply and demand. I burn a boatload of E15 in my personal vehicles because I can find it for around 45 cents a gallon less than E10...
Current times are no different. There are times and places E85 will make sense. And times it won't. And that's ok...
The OP was looking for info on whether E85 would help with pinging, how it would affect fuel mileage, and maintenance.
Answers: It is higher octane, but that may not eliminate pinging. Sure sounds like something else is going on there... Fuel mileage will be 20-25% lower than an E10 fuel (related to the 30% lower energy content). Maintenance wise, there are zero issues with running it per fleet use that I've seen.
We've instead covered ground about fuel taxes and what would happen if, checks notes, the impact on pricing if everyone switched to E85. Why I bother going down the rabbit holes, I'll never know.
For what its worth, anything that is manufactured in quantities of 1.0 Million Barrels per day in recent weeks (being ethanol) is not limited in manufacturing capacity. In addition, the US is a large exporter of ethanol because it has excess ethanal production capacity, plus it has more that is currently not being used as the demand is not there in the US. The constraint today is the retail availability of the product, particularly outside of the corn belt. The arguement that prices will go up if everyone starts using it are correct, until the market rebalances itself.
Its always been the same story. There are times that E0, or E10, or E15, or E85 make more sense due to supply and demand. I burn a boatload of E15 in my personal vehicles because I can find it for around 45 cents a gallon less than E10...
Current times are no different. There are times and places E85 will make sense. And times it won't. And that's ok...