Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron61
Perry,
I have heard and read that also. I also read in some report that Ethanol would eventually start to cause rust and breakdowns in the engines. Don't know if that part is true or not. When I saw that GM owned part of the company that is going to supply it, I figured it was money talking and not logic.
Guess I had better get my corn field started. 
Ron  |
I grew up on ethanol blend gasses. We had them in Nebraska since the 80s. I am not sure about the takes more energy to make than it gives, but as far as the rust and breakdowns. I do not believe that is true. My uncle has a 93 Ford Pickup that he now uses on his farm during the winter for plowing roads. The truck has almost 200,000 miles on it. He has only used ethanol blend in it and it still runs fine, has no issues.
My experience with ethanol is that it does give a little less gas mileage. It is not as bad as 50% less that I hear a lot of. The funny part is that up in Nebraska, it was the cheaper gas to buy. It costs less than normal gasoline to make, so therefore it costs less for the ethanol blends. At least that is how it was pitched. Now here in Texas, it is mandated that all pumps contain at least a 10% blend. When that went into effect during the price increases a couple years back, it was said that the additional added cost of producing ethanol forced the gas companies to raise prices. Now with the ethanol blend being cheaper in Nebraska (89 octane blend is still cheaper than 87 octane non blend), it was cheaper to drive the same distance on the blend than on the non blend, even though gas mileage was down. You would have to fill up more often, but at the end of the year, you spent less money on gas. You have to start figuring in Cost/Mile instead of Miles/gallon. Here in Texas, that whole deal is out the window because the blends raised prices and all grades have the blend. No option for non blended.