Flex Fuel?

[Mark Derail]

I base my stats on the database that I oversee - insured vehicles excluding trucks - for insurance company claims.
Pickups are in the 55% range in North America.

What might skew the results is that many "cheap" cars are only insured one-side; then again a 15yr old pickup is not usually insured both-sides. So it evens out.
Pickups are less popular in cities, so people will think Honda Civics (#1 insured car in North America, Camry is 2nd) are more used than pickups.
Insurance claims prove otherwise.

You travel much? We probably have more pickups vs cars than most countries, but not even in Texas is that true.

Ok, maybe you were closer than I'd thought. From Wiki....

A significant portion even tho not half.

 

[dmoore19]

I wonder just how much that E85 would cost if you added in the subsidies given the manufacturer paid for by the taxpayer.

I work in the oil industry, I think we have a superior product.

On the lines of Octane, back in the day I had a muscle car. I also had access to 140 octane aviation fuel. I would get 10 gallons of the 140 octane fuel and fill the rest of the tank with premium, called ethyl back then. I needed the ethyl because straight 140 octane would spark knock and ping, I would have to shut the key off and leave the car in gear and release the clutch to kill the engine. When mixed with the premium the knock would stop and the car would run like a raped ape.

 

[Mark Derail]

Oil is not the "bad" - it's companies that have evolved the "car" to perfection - speed, safety, capacity - but left MPG on the wayside because fuel was/still is too cheap.
At the detriment of causing pollution.

Ford's direct injection is a great example of existing-tech re-use, KISS, yet can double or triple highway MPG on light trucks & SUV's, for very little increased cost.
Also causes less pollution.

My POV of view, is that this should have been thought of, and implemented, 10+ years ago. Instead of focusing on ergonomics and hybrids.

 

[DandyDon]

The idea of replacing our foreign oil dependency with home grown alcohol feels good. It takes a lot of fuel to produce the corn, more fuel and resource depletion to irrigate it, more oil to make fertilizer for it, etc - and then there's cutting into the food supply. The local distillery is going to explore making alcohol from other resources now: Ethanol plants get $3 million - MyPlainview.com: News

I'll be in Lubbock for Thanksgiving so I'll arrange to arrive with less than a quarter tank and gas up from the yellow nozzle - then see what happens. My onboard computer gives me average mileage as I go, claims 30+ mpg overall with my driving habits - actually about 90% of that when I check it, so we'll see then. I wonder if they have already switched to 70% for winter?

I save about 20% by driving 60 mph on the hiway even tho I feel like a sitting duck at times the way idiots zoom up behind me at 70 or more before passing. :laughing: I drove my daughter and granddaughter 240 miles round trip for a swim meet recently and she posted sarcastic remarks to her FB about our speed. Eh, so it took 17 minutes more each way.

 

[flots am]

Anyone using E85 in their cars? We have a station in Lubbock supplying it now, but it's only 10% cheaper - yet I've read the mileage will be 15-25% lower. If true, I'd lose - but maybe I will try a tank and see? Maybe they have the winter E70 blend, and if so maybe it will work better.

Don't bother worrying about it because E85 is going away.

It's only cheaper because of federal subsidies that are under tremendous pressure, to say nothing of the rest of the world being pissed off at us that they're starving and we're turning food into gasoline.

flots

 

[CuNanoTube]

Well, if we are lucky, the bio-hydrogen reactors that are being worked on, and the new nanotech fuel cell tech being built will allow us to switch over to using hydrogen. Hydrogen has its problems, but anywhere you have water and some form of power you can get hydrogen. Iceland thanks to abundant Geo-thermal power reserves are starting to almost use it exclusively.

The other way to go (which may be the better way based on infrastructure) is electric. In the news recently a Lithium Ion battery that holds more charge and charges faster was just created by researchers. With advances in silicon fabrication techniques these batteries could conceivably be a cost effective method for storing power.

Using ethanol as a fuel is a waste of energy and money, we should skip it and move onto the next generation of vehicle. As a side note one of the big advantages of using electric cars is that you don't need to use a green source of power to run them. That is, it is easier to change one power plant that powers thousands of cars than it is to change thousands of cars once you are all running electric. So if you want to up "the green factor" all the government would need to do is change over plants instead of subsidizing crops, giving tax incentives to run more fuel efficient cars, etc.

 

[Mark Derail]

There is a big advantage to better ICE with petrol - generators. They can be built small, efficient, thus portable - and can supplement an all-electric car.
Basically what the Volt was supposed to be...

I agree that Ethanol - from corn - is ridiculous.

 

[DandyDon]

Ok, so it'll be 6 days before I can get back to the station with the E85/E70, but I'll try a tank then. I hope that they have E70 this close to winter. Our nights are getting down around 30, we might get another colder spell in the next few weeks, there might be a night that my car stays outside somewhere, and I don't want to experiment too much at once the first time. If it's E85, I may mix my own 70% at the pump. Next week I'll get watching the gauge and adding 2 gallons at a time as needed to get back there with less than 1/4 tank, then - we'll see.

That cheap injector cleaner I used on my '95 F150 helped it get to 367,000 miles with minimum care so I do think it's worth a try for non-Flex cars. I doubt brand names are worth extra money, so I'm taking my daughter a few bottles of the cheap stuff I have used for her older Impala that doesn't start well - knowing how likely she is to actually go get some herself. Worth a try I think.

It may be a month before I have any options, but I will be back here.

 

[DandyDon]

Yuck! :silly: I put 14 gallons of E85 (don't know if they have switched to E70 for winter or not, but I think not) in my 17 gallon tank and drove home 70 miles. Saved 10% on cost/gallon but the car computer estimate of fuel mileage is pathetic! This is probably my last tank of this stuff...!

Beside the manual says not to switch back and forth much, and no way can I only fill up in Lubbock. I do get down there every 500 miles or so, but this looks like a 400 mile supply.

 

[DandyDon]

Double yuck. I topped off the tank after 210 miles: took 9.4 gallons = 22.34 mpg after my mostly hiway cruising at 60 mph as usual, but compared to my usual 28-30 mpg - that's 23% less mpg, after saving 10% on fuel cost. Experiment over: FAIL!

It's nice to have an alternative to fossil fuels, but this one is not promising - and it takes a lot of resources to produce ethanol, while also removing corn from the food supply. It's good to explore, but I don't see a future. The ethanol plant here at Plainview got a grant to explore making it from other sources, and I dodge their trucks anytime I go to town - but I just don't see the chemistry.

I topped off today at the only place around with straight gasoline, so I guess I am running E40 for now. It's a farm co-op, and their price was 17c/gal cheaper than E15 at the convenience stations. I don't want to set up an account with them for my rare purchases, so I have to go in to get a card, then go back in to pay - in cash, but more or less worth it.

Ok, so I tried... :sad: