Flexfuel – Ethanol E85 – What’s the Point?

Okay, so you might drive an Ethanol E85 capable vehicle, does that really help you and what is the point? Well, I guess if you start to sit back and think about my sarcastic statement you might start to wonder yourself. Was that a big selling point of your new Chevy Tahoe or Impala? Can you really find Ethanol E85 at your local gas station? I guess finding Ethanol is the big question for today or at least until you start seeing actual Ethanol E85 station or pump pop up in your city or town. Lets talk a little bit about Ethanol E85 and if you do happen to have access to it does it really save you money or is it saving more of our precious but yet fragile green earth? Ethanol E85, yes it is a great alternative fuel, and yes it produce less carbon monoxide and more carbon dioxide just as carbon monoxide is considered a greenhouse gas. With this being said, the pitfalls of the Ethanol E85 capable vehicle lies with the fact that most E85-capable cars and SUVs deliver roughly 20-25% fewer miles per gallon when running on ethanol fuel versus running on standard gasoline. 

Ethanol is a fuel derived mainly from corn in the U.S., and its high demand has led to price hikes in everything from an ear of corn to milk and steak. Ford is trying to address this issue by testing hybrid FlexFuel vehicles such as the new Ford Escape FlexFuel Hybrid which they will be testing about 20 of them by fleet customers. We may never get our hands on one of these. We never want to force