E85 – The quickest way to energy independence
February 9th, 2007 by Eric
There are a million things to write about E85, a fuel made from 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. It could even be its own Wednesday topic (spoiler warning: it will be). It’s a highly debated environmental issue with many pros and cons, and after being mentioned in the last two State-of-the-Union addresses, E85 has grown in popularity.
We’ll discuss the pros and cons in greater depth in the near future, but here are a few. The obvious pros are:
- It’s a cleaner burning fuel than gasoline.
- It will lower or eliminate dependency on foreign oil.
- It will create American jobs and help American Farmers.
- It doesn’t cost car companies much to make vehicles FlexFuel (E85 or gas) capable.
- Its production can happen quickly and cheaply.
Some less obvious cons:
- It takes nearly as much gas to make the ethanol (from corn) as it does to drive a car.
- It’s only about 30% cleaner than regular gas.
Most people who know all the facts regarding ethanol will agree that it is a great alternative to the oil-guzzling status quo, or at least a step in the right direction. If every new car came equipped with a FlexFuel engine, we could spend less time concentrating on making vehicles more efficient and more time on making the fuel more efficiently.
How many cars are FFVs (FlexFuel Vehicles) and how do I know if mine is? Both good questions and we’re glad you asked. After all, we’re here to help you make progress. FFVs cars have been around since 1992, but have only recently been marked as such. Most people driving around in a FFV don’t even know that they are. If you bought a GM vehicle in the last two years, it should have the FlexFuel logo on the back. But with so many others, they don’t even bother to tell you. There is a detailed list here.
Now that you know your car can handle it you need to know where to get it. The difficulty of finding an E85 “top off” differs from state to state, from over 300 in Minnesota (hats off, Gopher State!) to a big, fat bagel in Utah. But fear not: the number of stations is expected to double in the next year, including all stations on the New York State Thruway System. So check your make and model and then “filler up” with E85, and we’ll all breath a little easier.
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