Ethanol Dairies Redux.

[treekiller]

Last time I made a major Road trip on ethanol it was to see if it was feasible (or more so possible) to run an unconverted car on alternative fuel I had several modifications at my beck and call in case things went wrong.. but they did not. since I cannot run one lap this year, but I am running the Green Grand Prix (A road rally for hybrid and alternative fueled vehicles ONLY)

Last time, we checked the car on diffrent blends for power and issues. and it just ran fine. so this time I'm detailing the costs, and how the diffrent blends effect the mileage. and vs. the cost per gallon.. we are keying on the cost per mile and trying to identify where if at all ethanol breaks even as far as cost per mile with regular gasoline.

one of my biggest faults last time is I never tested "light" blends <E10 that are okay to run in any car on the road.

Details of the test. all fuels are purchased at "pump prices" and blended pre-tank to achieve very accurate results. Mileage is tested at a Cruse control locked 70MPH the computer is reset, ran for 5 miles to avoid any uphill/downhill differences, and this test is repeated 4 times for each blend. the results are averaged to give a decent representative of the mileage on a given blend. when the test is performed, the air conditioner is turned off and windows are closed to avoid any inconsistencies.

with the results of the first day being a bit shocking, I expected a slight loss of miles per gallon as we raised the ethanol percentage. but the inverse happened, as I raised the ethanol percentage the average miles per gallon went UP! at 5% ethanol we should have lost 1% on the MPG. but I actually experienced a 2.3% increase.

Fuel ----------$/GAL ----------E% ----------Average mpg ----------$/mile ----------octane
Shell 93 ----------3.839 ----------0 ----------29.775 ------------0.128933669 --------93
S93+E10 ---------- 3.767 ----------2.5 ----------30.26 ----------0.124487773 -------91.75
S93+E10 ----------3.6945 ----------5 ----------30.475 ----------0.121230517 --------90.5


Tomorow we blend > E10 hopefully we will find the "knee point" the optimum mix of ethanol and regular gas so we can find where optimum gas mileage really is. a side note is my car knocks quite audibly at anything less then 90 octane so I need to make sure knock does not come into play.

<edit> my only concern here is my car as all OBDII cars are tuned from the factory to accomidate E10. perhaps this increase is due to the car running slightly rich on straight gasoline and as we approach E10 it will peak, tomorow we will find that answer,

[treekiller]

Blend-------Per Gal-----E%---------MPG-------$per mile------Octane
E5+E85-----$3.477-----41.00%-----27.25-----0.12759633-----96.78
E41+E85-----$3.385-----56.50%-----27.35-----0.123753809-----99.52
E56+E85-----$3.323-----69.95%-----27.525-----0.120738722-----102.01

Well there it is final proof. In a car that requires high octane there is nearly a 1 cent per mile savings or about $3 a tank. No great shakes. on a car that can run on regular I assume you'll come out about the same. so from a financial perspective. there is no major cost advantage.

What does happen.. well the exhaust is much cleaner. I mean even the smell at idle is gone. I have LOTS of headroom with the extra octane If I ever intend to advance my timing.

My real only motivation is the energy comes from domestic sources. and the coal, nuclear, or natural gas that is used to power the plant is also a product of the USA. I am shocked that low ethanol fuels actually turned out better then the pure gasoline. this is a shock and a surprise. a good surprise. Now I know that the cheaper E10 fuel is a better buy given apples to apples.


While I still will run as much E85, because I support the development of this fuel and as the plants get bigger and more plentiful cost will come down. and honestly of all the options of not using oil given to us Ethanol is the most friendly to motorsports as we know it. we all can tune it, and we all like the high octane.

I'd like a new CleanTdi as a fuel economy car. but to take to the track I'll take my fuel Shaken, not stirred.

[Mars_302]

hmm I one question im trying to figure it out. Did you factor in the fact that most pumps now are giving us e10 now? Well at least most of the pumps I goto lately anyway

[treekiller]

No, I assume Shell was pure 93 and that was the only straight gas I used. (no pump labels) the E10 I purchased at First Coast Biofuels. and the E85 In South Carolina (since it's pretty well available there) I can smell E10 vs. super. and all the straight gas was purchased from the same shell. while I could have used regular for the heavier blends. I wanted to focus on consistency. making a regular E70 mix saves another .8 cents per mile. but really at that point why blend.. just run E85 and injector up it's apparent that there was no mileage change between 56% and 70% the difference was within error tolerance. I'm very happy with these results. and as expected there only a negligible difference, but with continued support it will become more affordable. they have the process down to $1.10 now to produce ethanol. only thing now that is keeping the price up is lack of supply. First Coast is a blender so their E85 is cheap. and they were SOLD out.

[.Patrick.]

the shell station near my house has a sticker on the pump that says all fuels are 10% ethanol already.

[treekiller]

That's right Pat. it's only a matter of time before the big oil companies get smart and start pre-blending it at the port of Tampa terminal. so everything we get will be eventually. that's fine once the ethanol plant in Tampa goes online (If the environ-freaks ever let them finish it) that will bring jobs, money and all the ethanol we can use to that port. the first piece of that puzzle was bringing the desalination plant online so they have the fresh water they need. they already have the power plant, and an on-site customer for the product (no distribution cost) and we can use Florida Raised sugar. @ 12 cents a lb. Ethanol markets for roughlt $2.50 a gallon, 40 million gallons a year. or close to 60 million in money EVERY YEAR! pulled from a middle eastern country and dropped in our local economy... that we all know needs it badly