Unleaded vs. E85

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Nik Hoffman

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Mar 18, 2009
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Location
Louisville, KY
So I saw a station in my area is now offering E85 at $2.19 a gallon vs $2.65 a gallon of regular unleaded. My question, other than the savings on a full fill up, assuming my truck is a Flex Fuel, I'm pretty sure it is, what is the main difference? Gas milage, emissions, any other issues? It has been costing me about $50ish to fill up so if I can save about $10 each time, and it works the same or better, it might just be worth it. E85 is a relatively new offering in my area and I havent seen much on it. Thanks for the help.
 
Less mpg on e85. depending on your driving style and $$ diference, it can be a wash. It has been for most on here.
 
First off, if you're not 100% sure you have a flexfuel ST, open your fuel door. There should be a decal applied to it stating flexfuel.



My experience with running E-85 is inline with E-85 studies.

I had a 30% drop in mpg and no noticeable performance gain.



So, E-85 has to be 30% cheaper than regular unleaded petrol to come out even $ wise.



Here in Kansas, Phillips is selling E-85 for $2.41 per gallon while regular petrol is $2.45!!



BTW, according to studies, it takes more than (1) gallon of oil to produce (1) gallon of E-85!!!
 
Beyond a wash. Less horsepower and less MPG, it better cost a buck a gallon and be made from wind energy.



Florida was the best, there were banners at gas stations for the elusive E-85 @ 5 cents less than unleaded... for the environmentally concerned.



Across the street there were gas stations with banners that said "NO ETHANOL, REAL GAS".



Both were for suckers. The pure gas was 90 octane so it cost more, the E-85 cost 5 cents less but a tank burned off really fast.



I admit I bought 2 tanks of the pure gas for giggles. :lol:
 
It takes more than 1 gallon of oil to make one gallon of gas as well. Although since E85 is only 15% gas, that is quite a lot of oil per gallon of gas!
 
My opinion stay away from the E85. First it is less cost effective than regular gas. Its production drives up the cost of fuel and drives down the food supply. Ethanol, in my opinion, is just another farm subsidy. Don't encoursge them by buying it.
 
Like I said, its relatively new to my area, I only saw the station offering it the other day so I never had the chance to use it. After reading the posts, I doubt I will. Thanks for the input.
 
You will lose about 20%-25% of your gasoline's MPG while using E85. Also Horsepower and performance are down as well. If you drive like a little old lady, then you probably will not notice much of a difference.



Polution-wise, E85 produces less carbon and greenhouse emissions, however some scientist claim that burning e85 does produce other harmful chemical emissions, and that the process used to convert corn to alcohol creates more polution??



My biggest gripe about E85 in the USA is that they use corn to produce it. That is a food source, and I don't think we should be suplimenting our craving for fossile fuels by converting food to fuel. It has already impacted the cost of food in this country and that is something we don't need.



There is an agrigultural week called Switchgrass that yields mre energy per acre, grows in nearly any soil or climate in the USA and you can harvest 2-3 crops per year. I would support the use of Switchgrass E85 if they would stop using corn to create alcohol and farmers did not just convert all their corn fields to switchgrass fields.



...Rich
 
HP is higher with E-85. Gas mileage goes down.



100% gasoline is the best way to go. Most cars will accept E-10 very well.





Tom
 
So I was thinking about it today, I can get about 300 miles to a tank with my driving. Dont know how that compares to others, but was thinking about trying E85 to get a comparison. So, am I able to swap back and forth from gas to E85 without any issues?
 
Yep...switch between fuels at no peril.



I average about 420 miles per tank with regular pertol and barely made 280 miles with E-85!!!



Go for it...



 
Grandma driving some call it. Not hard to do though. Even throttle up, throttle down well before stopping. Also kept my tires pumped to 40psi to reduce rolling resistance.



Only mod I have is a ZT throttle body.



That 420 mile per tank average was obtained consistently with approx 75% highway & 25% city going along my average commute day. AND fillup is usually about 20 gals.



I've never figured a 100% city driving mileage because I've never done it!



Now if ALL highway miles on a tank, I can squeeze out about 480 miles per tank with also a 20 gal fill.



Call me lucky or call me Grandma, I don't really care. My ST pleases me mpg wise!!!



:D
 
Caymen, what gas station sells 100% gasoline?



I'm tired of running the lame mandated E-10 :(



"Make sure your boat can use ethanol blended fuel prior to fillup"

...and if if can't, buy a new boat because you'll be hard pressed to find a station, fuel dock or land, that isn't sporting E-10.



Sadly, switchgrass will still drive up the price of food over not using any crops for fuel, but I could see that increase being lower than what current corn ethanol can and will do.



It's not like we have spare farmland lying around...shoot, we're running out of farmland as it is. Good old needless development.



DaveS, my ST pleases me MPG wise as well. I hate driving my commutes, but I make up for it by taking her out gallivanting around at least once a week, and so she rewards me with at least 400 miles per tank, with 20-21 gallons put in on fillup :D



Smaller cars may get better mileage, but with their smaller tank they fill up more frequently than the ST. It would take some serious highway mileage on their part to blow away the ST's tank size advantage.
 
I would run and test E-85 here in the 04, The issue is the only 2 stations here that sell it are over 15 miles from my house in either direction !!... LOL



Todd Z
 
Everything I've ever read said it's a wash. E-85 is cheaper but the mpg goes down. They don't sell it where I live anyway.
 
Todd Z, I was actually talking to my wife about that lastnight. My low fuel light came on today, so if Im gonna do it, now would be the time!
 
Well, Nik...good luck with our E-85 trial....



But you can't be pissed with your results because you've been forewarned!!!:D
 

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