Flex Fuel Vehicles & E85
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Flex Fuel Vehicles & E85
Posted: July 23 2008 02:58 PM
 
Jim Edwards (aka Starfire) [ View ] [ Car Ads ] [ Blogs ]
Weimar, Texas
 
Not having seen a single E85 pump anywhere in this part of the world I'm curious if anyone has seen one at any place where gasoline is sold. If distilleries have been built, and corn processed into E85 just where is it going? While I think E85 is a stupid idea that puts pressure on the world's food supply, I'd still like to know where the heck its all going. Are we shipping it out to Brazil or other countries where they are already setup to distribute it for public consumption?
 
 
Comments
 
Posted by 31tudor  -  07/23/2008 03:04 PM
I can't answer that and there's no Ethanol here either, but I know CNG is 88 cents per gallon here in Utah! Makes me wonder if a CNG conversion would be a good idea in my A-Bone!
Eric Hibbs [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] St. George, Utah Charter Member since January 2002
 
Posted by brian41chevy  -  07/23/2008 03:11 PM
It is sold all over Illinois. Doesn't cost a lot less than the gas and you get the added bennefit of only half the milage.
There is a fine line between hobby and mental illness [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] New Lenox, Illinois Charter Member since November 2004
 
Posted by Starfire  -  07/23/2008 03:53 PM
I found a partial answer to my question and based upon what I found and Brian's comment about price, I sure wouldn't run right out to buy a flex fuel vehicle even if they were selling them at 1/2 price.

E85 Refueling Locations by State:
Alabama - 7, Arkansas - 6, Arizona - 17, California - 9, Colorado - 52, District of Columbia - 3, Delaware - 1, Florida - 18, Georgia - 22, Iowa - 93, Idaho - 4, Illinois - 173, Indiana - 103, Kansas - 40, Kentucky - 5, Louisiana - 3, Massachusetts - 1, Maryland - 7, Michigan - 70, Minnesota - 345, Missouri - 97, Mississippi-3, Montana - 1, North Carolina - 13, North Dakota - 24, Nebraska - 45, New Mexico - 7, Nevada - 23, New York - 22, Ohio - 56, Oklahoma - 7, Oregon - 9, Pennsylvania - 19, South Carolina - 72, South Dakota - 71, Tennessee - 18, Texas - 38, Utah - 4, Virginia - 4, Washington - 12, Wisconsin - 112, West Virginia - 3, Wyoming - 5

Meaning unless you live in Minnesota you might have a tough time finding E85. Brian is right about the price. Yesterday's national average for E85 was $4.05 per gallon. And Eric unless you are more or less in metro Salt Lake City, you'd be slap out of luck anywhere in Utah.

E85 = a bad joke on the world!
Starfire [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] Weimar, Texas
 
Posted by 50pickup  -  07/23/2008 04:35 PM
There is an ethanol plant 3 miles from our office that went online last year. The construction firm I work for just missed out on the contract to build it. They went with a Co. that had 10 under their belts already. The nearest station selling it is about 25 miles away in the "big city". Last time I saw it in May, it was only 8 cents cheaper than gas. My 08 Sierra can run on it, but I've never tried it. Supposedly it hurts your MPG by 20%! So I can't see going there! Seems like that is the general consensus.

E85 is not made from corn raised for human consumption, it is made from field corn. 99% of corn raised in this country is field corn! Only 1% of corn (sweet) is used for our food, believe it or not! However it does effect the supply of feed corn for livestock & poultry. That is why they are researching & have come up with some alternative resources to use, like corn & sugar cain stalks, grasses, etc.

So even if someone comes up with something to ween us from gas & oil....making it AVAILABLE & AFFORDABLE and getting people to use it will take many, many, many years. Hey it won't help the price of gas at the pump tomorow, so why bother, huh?


DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW, NO EXCUSES, NO BITCHIN
50pickup [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] POTTERVILLE, Michigan
 
Posted by 31tudor  -  07/23/2008 05:46 PM
Hey Starfire, I'm not far from SLC... about 320 miles is all! I'm much closer to Las Vegas, only 110 miles.


50pickup, "DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW, NO EXCUSES, NO BITCHIN"??? Well said brother, AMEN!!!
Eric Hibbs [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] St. George, Utah Charter Member since January 2002
 
Posted by fitzwell   -  07/23/2008 05:53 PM
Brian, ya nailed it. My driver gets 10% better fuel milage on 100% gasoline, that costs .04 - .06 per gallon more that ethanol. Ya gotta love the math majors in Washington
normal?? Normal is a cycle on a washing machine [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] benbrook, Texas
 
Posted by brian41chevy  -  07/23/2008 08:58 PM
Even the ethanol hurts your milage. I can go almost twice as far if I get a tank of straight gas. I just don't see any advantage to running the E85. It should be half the price of gas for the half milage it gives you.
There is a fine line between hobby and mental illness [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] New Lenox, Illinois Charter Member since November 2004
 
Posted by blade58  -  07/23/2008 09:49 PM
The city of Orlando,FL has one for the city vehicle they are purchasing,there is currently 2 on the Florida Turnpike there is a price difference of 15-20 cents
blade58 [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] apopka, Florida Charter Member since January 2008
 
Posted by Starfire  -  07/23/2008 10:38 PM
Brian the price of E85 will never be half the price of gasoline. It takes a lot of natural gas energy just to distill it. It also takes petroleum derived fertilizers to grow the corn or sugar cane used in the process. There is no bargain to ever be had with E85 regardless of what is used. I personally would actually doubt enough ethanol could ever be produced in this country to even knock a small dent in the daily need for fuel for our automobiles.

50pickup what you describe as field corn is indeed used in our food chain. You'll find it in cooking oils, salad dressings, margarine, breakfast food, corn meal, bread, pancakes, and most certainly the poultry, beef, and pork we eat are all fed field corn. It is also used as the primary filler in pet foods. Ethanol is indeed a problem for the world food supply.
Starfire [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] Weimar, Texas
 
Posted by Tony57  -  07/23/2008 10:48 PM
Two that sell that stuff 5 miles from my house..Big truck stops.
Tony57 [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] Hillsboro, Missouri
 
Posted by johns56  -  07/23/2008 11:04 PM
1700 gal of water to make 1 gal of e85. dosn't compute. also worse emissions than gas. another lib idea that sucks
johns56 [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] phoenix, Arizona
 
Posted by REBORN55  -  07/23/2008 11:16 PM
Only way to equal the fuel economy of gas vs. the E-85 is to drive the E-84 car very, very easy. Not worth it to use E-85 in my mind.--have seen some places where it actually was more expensive than gas.
Ken [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] De soto, Illinois
 
Posted by farmer  -  07/24/2008 12:09 AM
The big rush to distill ethonal E-85 was to replace MTBE (I think thats the correct additive) that was fazed out as a fuel oxygenator to reduce air pollution. The MTBE has a history of ground water pollution and ethanol is a more enviromentally friendly product that does the same job.


Ethonal from corn is is just the start because it was plentiful and cheap just two years ago. I try to be objective about all the "press" high food prices and the reason for the sharp increases we have seen so just a couple things to think about.


A friend of mine is involved in the management of several large swine production facilities. With the current cost of feed (corn and soybean meal) they would be financially ahead to destroy the pigs than feed and sell at the current slaughter price. Have you checked the price of pork lately?


In the past two years we have seen prices for corn more than double, soybeans triple and wheat triple. Anhydrous ammonia the main source nitrogen fertilizer has increased from $375ton in 2006 to $850ton today. Other crop inputs have seen similar increases. Crude oil about the same.


Raw commodities wether pumped, dug or harvested from the ground are in big demand world wide but to my knowledge none are actually in short supply. However, opportunists (sp) are not in short supply.


Sorry for the rant but sometimes I can"t help myself.


Jim
farmer [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] Carthage, Illinois
 
Posted by brian41chevy  -  07/24/2008 09:07 AM
Well said Jim.
There is a fine line between hobby and mental illness [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] New Lenox, Illinois Charter Member since November 2004
 
Posted by cr55  -  07/24/2008 11:10 AM
Rant all you want Jim, because you're right on the money. .the price of fertilizer has doubled but it doesn't go twice as far does it? I have a herd of animals and the price of their food has gone up drastically. The food prices have gone up considerably too .....CR
I thought that I knew it all , but.. [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] dover, Delaware
 
Posted by ol bear  -  07/24/2008 01:03 PM
IN INDIANA E85 RANGES FROM 30 TO 50 CENTS A GALLON CHEAPER ,, OL BEAR
OL BEAR [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] crown point, Indiana
 
Posted by fitzwell   -  07/24/2008 01:22 PM
i've heard there's no shortage of fertilizer in washington.
normal?? Normal is a cycle on a washing machine [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] benbrook, Texas
 
Posted by Starfire  -  07/24/2008 07:41 PM
Yeah, all that fertilizer in Washington is also Organic, 100% all natural Bull S--T!
Starfire [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] Weimar, Texas
 
Posted by Streetrodder007  -  07/24/2008 09:55 PM
There is alot of E85 gas stations around the Detroit area, today it cost $3.35 a gallon, plus a few stations just started carrying racing fuel/ such as Turbo Blue $7.00 a gallon.
Streetrodder007 [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] Port Huron, Michigan Charter Member since April 2006
 
Posted by PHATN40  -  07/25/2008 08:32 AM
We have one pump in Quincy, IL. It is always ten cents cheaper than regular. The price changes every time the regular price changes. Hard to believe the e-85 changes at exactly the same time as the regular. I drive by the station twice daily and have never seen a vehicle at that pump.
PHATN40 [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] Quincy, Illinois Charter Member since July 2004
 
Posted by johns56  -  07/25/2008 12:32 PM
sen tom harkins just proclaimed that ethonol has dropped the price of gas by 30 cents a gal !!!! so don't need to drill. yeah well just where is that happening. lying sob
johns56 [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] phoenix, Arizona
 
Posted by Starfire  -  07/25/2008 02:13 PM
"Lying" is the wrong description. Falls more into the definition of being very uninformed and probably suffering from terminal stupidity. Who the heck elected that Bozo?
Starfire [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] Weimar, Texas
 
Posted by orphans2  -  07/26/2008 02:18 AM
Last time I checked there were only about 3 E85 stations in all of Pennsylvania. So it must be going to places like California or over seas cause it sure ain't coming here. Just as well none of my cars are E 85 certified.
orphans2 [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] Stewartstown, Pennsylvannia Charter Member since November 2001
 
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