Can the Prius burn E85 Ethanol?

Technically from an ICE perspective, yes it can. It will run rough until the O2 sensor kicks in, and eventually the CEL comes on as it has to make a much wider adjustment than it expects it should.

No long term study on what it would due to the materials in the fuel path.

 

You'd be missing out. It will probably be a long while before cars are typically E85 approved, and Prius will probably be among the holdouts if Toyota hasn't done it yet.

Now if you are holding out for the 2006 credit, that's different.

 

I recall reading somewhere that the maximum ethanol recommended was 10%, or E90. I think it was a Toyota site, sorry I can't be more helpful.

 

It is in the manual. States no more than 10% ethanol.

 

Actually 10% ethanol would be E10, the "E" denotes the percentage of ethanol, thereby E85 is a blend consisting of 85% ethanol.

There was another thread here a while back where they mentioned that Minnesota State University (formerly Mankato State) did a study with a Prius and E85. I believe they would get a CEL on E85, but by blending their own ratios, they could run up to a 60% ethanol blend with no ill effects.

 

I've wondered the same thing; I'd love to be running my Prius on a renewable fuel. From what I understand, it will be quit a while before E85 is in distribution outside the midwestern states. Brazil uses ethanol, so they've solved the corrosion problem.

 

All things remaining equal (particularly a 60 city EPA for the Prius) the tax credit, for purchases during at least for the first 6 months of 2006, will be $2,750.

 

A little OT, but has anyone tried acetone/fuel mixture? It burns cleaner and will net more MPG over fuel alone. Rather than type out the whole scenario, please read link below.

I use this in my Land Rover and so far it has netted me an extra 4mpg.

This has been around for a while, so its not a new thing.

Here is more info:

http://www.pureenergysystems.com/news/2005...900069_Acetone/



Oh, and hello from anewbie.

2005 Package 5 w/ port added tan leather. 4100 on the clock.







:wink:

 

No, it doesn't specifically.

Lots of people inadvertently contribute to the misconception that vehicles are designed to only support up to 10% ethanol. But in reality, only 10% is allowed.

See the difference?

Without a nationwide standard for ethanol blends, this statement in the manual about ethanol makes a lot of sense: "Toyota allows the use of oxygenate blended gasoline where the oxygenate content is up to 10% ethanol or 15% MTBE."

No where do they say a blend like E20 won't work, they simply say it isn't allowed. That's warranty jargon, not technical specifications.

Minnesota will be increasing their current 10% ethanol mandate in 7 years to 20%. In order to pass that bill, they did enough initial research to show that E20 is realistic for use in many current vehicles. The next step is to actually do the certification. But at least for now, they know that the "allow" statement is not related to a design limitation.

 

Sorry, I took that as being no more than 10%. To me the technical and warranty issue is the same. Give me 7 yrs and I may be more experimentive. However, like you said due to warranty concerns I would not use more than 10%.

 

They had minor problems on cold start, and they don't know the long term effects.
Again, from a combustion point of view, E85 works fine, just runs rough until the feedback loop closes, but from a durability issue with the rubbers and plastics, it is not known.
Acetone I would imagine would be worse.