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Oxygenated gasoline

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Fuel Economy' started by Anthony, Sep 30, 2009.

  1. Anthony

    Anthony New Member

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    The are where I am in used to never have this crap. Only Arco stations, and most people with a brain stayed away from them. Now every station has it, and it is hard to get away from. Does this stuff really do anything other than let Georgia Pacific get rid of their alcohol out of their wood plant in Ferndale Washington? (Don't argue, I used to drive a fuel truck for 6 years and have pulled it out of there)

    I found in the past I got less mileage with Arco gas when the few times I did buy it for what ever reason.

    Anyone else feel the same way?:confused:
     
  2. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    Priuschat only has about 3 topics, repeated over and over by folks who don't search.

    Alcohol has a higher knock resistance, but a 30% lower energy content.

    If your car was prone to knocking, it can help. it will also help remove water from your fuel tank. But if you are using E10, you will get about 3% less mileage.

    The Prius is not prone to knocking, in general, so the hygroscopic properties are your only potential benefit. If the E10 gas is more than 3% cheaper, it could be cheaper per mile even if you get less MPG. (If you bought your Prius to reduce your dependence on Oil, it is saving almost 10%, if you bought it to save money, you need to weigh the cost savings with the mileage drop. If you bought it to post the highest possible MPG scores online, E10 is a 3% loss)
     
  3. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    In parts of the Midwest it has been mandated for years. In our area it is mostly a subsidy to farmers.

    Tom
     
  4. dogfriend

    dogfriend Human - Animal Hybrid

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    :D

    3 serious topics, half a dozen goofy topics in FHOP, and an endless supply of useless arguments and name calling in FHoPolitics. :madgrin:
     
  5. a64pilot

    a64pilot Active Member

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    If it makes you feel better, I believe reformulated and or Oxygenated fuel pollutes less. Ethanol is much better for the environment than MTBE, the chemical that used to be used.
     
  6. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Sheep, inflatable dolls, and...what's the third topic?

    Tom
     
  7. dogfriend

    dogfriend Human - Animal Hybrid

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    Computers.
     
    1 person likes this.
  8. timo27

    timo27 Member

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    This is true. In MD, we used to use MTBE, which didn't give the mileage hit that ethanol does, and had the added benefit of making the oil companies happy:heh:. But there were lots of instances of groundwater contamination (I believe it is a known or probable carcinogen). So now our gas is all E10, all the time.

    What I don't fully understand is why the oxygenated fuels are now being used year-round. It was originally for areas that were in non-attainment for air quality due to carbon monoxide--places like Denver and the urban NE, and then only in the winter, when incomplete combustion was more of a problem due to the temp. AFAIK, oxygenated fuels don't do squat to reduce VOCs, NOx, and the other crap that are precursors of ozone pollution, which is the big deal most places in the *summer*, which is when we have most of our bad air anyway. It *is* enough to make one suspicious that politics just might play a bit role in the whole thing, what with every presidential candidate finding ethanol religion in the snows of Iowa...
     
  9. Orf

    Orf New Member

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  10. dogfriend

    dogfriend Human - Animal Hybrid

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  11. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Treat these as scams. The promoters who have approached the hard-core hypermilers on the other forum I read have all scattered liked cockroaches the moment carefully controlled tests are proposed.