Half GM Cars On Ethonol By 2012

[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

[Joe Wicked]

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.

[Ron61]

Joe,

From the little I read in the article, I really am not sure just what percentage of Ethanol blend the cars are going to run on. And I am sure that here in Calif. they will use that as an excuse to raise the price of gas even more. Also what happens to the older cars that aren't made to run on this stuff when they change it all over? I can just see the Shelby Cobra badges being replaced by stalks of corn badges.

Ron

[Joe Wicked]

Originally Posted by Ron61

Joe,

From the little I read in the article, I really am not sure just what percentage of Ethanol blend the cars are going to run on. And I am sure that here in Calif. they will use that as an excuse to raise the price of gas even more. Also what happens to the older cars that aren't made to run on this stuff when they change it all over? I can just see the Shelby Cobra badges being replaced by stalks of corn badges.

Ron

Ron, the fuel burns as clean as gas and I haven't seen any issues. Same uncle has a 65 Ford F100 that he uses the blend in. He had to change the jets in the carburetor to a little bit larger to accommodate the need for more fuel, but that is it. Worst case, you would need a larger fuel pump, larger jets, and larger fuel line. Although, I doubt the fuel line would be necessary. From my understanding, the Flex fuel vehicles have a dual injector system. one set for gasoline and one set for E85.

Please keep in mind that my experiences are with E10 to E20 blends, and my comments are on those. Most pumps in the area I grew up are E15 or E20. The mileage went down but so did the price. I have no experiences with the E85 blend. Texas mandates that all pumps have at least 10% blend. My uncle will readily tell you he has been using the ethanol blends since the 80s and has not experienced any difference in maintenance costs, life of the vehicle or performance. One interesting thing to note, it is more efficient to use sugar to produce ethanol than corn. Corn is just more readily available in the US. Any vegetation can be used, but there are different degrees of success.

[Ron61]

Joe,

That sounds good. We need to do something to stop having to be at the mercy of the foreign oil countries. And if our Govt. would stop the selling of the Alaska oil to Japan that would help.
Now if I could just build a car that would use a small nuclear reactor to generate the electricity, I could go a long time between stops.

Ron