ethanol wisdom

you most likely have E10 which is 10% ethanol.

now ethanol has about 10% less power than gasoline, so its only going to equate to around 1-2% drop in gas mileage. in Western WA, E-10 has been used forever here. check my stats... trust me, your mileage is not because of the gas mix...(assuming its mixed correctly that is) so look at other things.

my Dad lives in Texas a few miles from Mexico and a short shot from the Carribean. they dont have any ethanol there and he only gets about 40-42 mpg in his 2007. but he doesnt drive much... lots of very short trips, stop and go, etc... A/C nearly all the time, etc...

 

This was the substance of the debate that occurred before the policy decision was made to emphasize ethanol as part of an energy independence strategy. It didn't hurt matters any that some of the largest agribusiness interests (companies like ADM) were pushing for ethanol....

dubya will never be accused of not taking care of the corporate interests that got him into office.

Don't you just love it when the fix is in?

 

Same here in Minnesota.

Winter has a profound effect, from a variety of different factors. Right now, it's the humidity. The endless mist has actually pushed efficiency all the way up to 52 MPG. The normal bone dry conditions contribute to the opposite, dropping MPG into the low 40's.

 

If you have been tracking milage over the past few months I am going to assume your local temperature has dropped as well? You accounted for such things as temp. and road conditions right?

 

There is a more fundamental problem, the energy content per unit of fuel regardless of the what it is mixed in the batch. There can be a significant, measurable difference in the energy content of the fuel but there is nothing posted allowing a consumer to make an informed choice.

Bob Wilson

 

I can't wait for summer to come!

 

MBTE (the carcinogenic oxygenator that was used before EtOH) also had lower energy content than gasoline. That's a uniform characteristic of the oxygenators.

 

True, but not as bad as ethanol.

 

MBTE may not have been as bad a trade off as far as energy is concerned, but other issues makes be glad that ethanol is used.

 

Yep, that's why mass distribution of E85 will probably never happen. Once people realize that E85 yields about 40% less gas mileage for about the same price/gallon as gasoline, sales of E85 will drop like a rock.

 

Is that data introduction or several years?

First using it will have a cleansing effect, since the alcohol tends to flush out and confuse the system. So that initial data can be misleading.

3 to 4% is what we (10 years of use) have observed, matching the energy difference between pure gas and E10.

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Gasoline has an energy density of ~34.6MJ/L (by volume). Ethanol is ~24MJ/L, or ~31% less than gasoline. For E10, the 10% ethanol constituent theoretically drops engine efficiency by 3%. So, for an engine that is optimized to handle ethanol, or gasoline and ethanol equally as well, a 3-4% drop is expected. Most engines are not optimized for ethanol, though, and experience a significant drop in efficiency. 8% would not be unreasonable. That's also why gasoline-oriented engines, if properly equipped, running on E85 are likely to see an efficiency drop around 40% rather than 30%. Just because an engine can run on ethanol doesn't mean it does so as efficiently as gasoline.

 

hmmm if that is the case, then on reg gas, i would be blowing the OLD EPA estimates out of the water...cool!

 

True. But keep in mind the equation isn't linear.

The new studies are revealing unexpected results, like E20 causing less of a MPG hit than E10 in certain non-flex vehicles.
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Is there any gas stations out there NOT using ethanol?