More on E85

This week's column was supposed to be about Minnesota's law that requires 10 percent ethanol in the gasoline, but several other items came up during the past week on E85 - a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline -- so I return to that subject.

A friend who is a technician at a well known local car dealership (he requested anonymity) pointed out that I neglected to go into more depth on the possible problems caused by filling the tank in a car designed for pump gasoline with E85. It will probably not run at all because the injectors are not properly metered for the very different ignition properties of E85. That means the cost of a tow truck, plus the cost of having the tank drained and refilled. The bill can run as much as $500, and would not be covered under warranty because warranties do not cover ignorance. In addition, the corrosive nature of the ethanol could permanently damage parts of the fuel system.

He recently had to drain the fuel tank of a Toyota Prius whose owner apparently figured that his gasoline/electric hybrid could also run on E85. The fumes resulting from the higher evaporation rate of the ethanol caused severe discomfort to the technicians in the auto shop, with reports of watering eyes and breathing difficulty, much more so than with gasoline fumes.

Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) are designed to run on 87 octane gasoline or E85 or any blend in between. They do this by a combination of sensors and computers that determine the volatility of the fuel, and it is metered into the combustion chambers accordingly. The nature of ethanol requires that fuel tanks, fuel lines and injectors be made of more expensive, corrosion-resistant materials, adding a few hundred dollars to the price of an FFV.

The previous article on E85 was sent to a few friends who make a living writing about the auto industry. They were kind enough to share their thoughts.

Phil Berg is a freelance writer (formerly a staffer at Car and Driver and AutoWeek) who has recently been working with the Biodiesel industry. He writes:

"One slight omission I think is that 2 percent ethanol added to gasoline actually increases octane, and slightly increases lubricity, so efficiency and fuel mileage will not suffer with gasohol. It kind of depends upon how the gasoline is brewed. But you're right about E85, volumetric energy of ethanol is about 2/3 gasoline, and even less compared to diesel. What that means is that it costs a lot more to run on ethanol than gasoline, at current pump prices only.

"But, and this is huge, there's another cost you have to add to gasoline production.

"I've been visiting bio-diesel makers and just got back from a diesel symposium in Sacramento, and the demand for any kind of bio-fuel is potentially enormous: Customers want the stuff at any price, reeling from the cost of the Iraq conflict. The manager of American Ag Fuels biodiesel plant in Definance, OH, is a seven-year vet from Iraq and he says he'd pay anything to stop importing oil; and even though the local farmers stand to make a lot of money selling soybeans to bio-diesel producers, they are more motivated by the prospect of cutting oil imports and keeping their sons home.

"Another view on expense: Oil companies are investigating cellulose and waste-based '2nd generation' bio-diesel because they are afraid of fuel production competing with human food production, which is what happens when corn and soybeans are used for E85 and B100. Food production is pretty expensive. Can you imagine the trouble the US would get into if instead of just exploiting developing countries, we starved them, just to get fuel? Starving people would produce a lot more terrorists than the merely pissed-off people who are producing terrorists now. Further, feedstock-based fuel tends to spoil if you don't keep it in your fridge, so to speak (actually you need to heat it). Bio-diesel will separate into all kinds of bad chemicals if you let it stand for a month (although most of the industry guys say that won't happen with the Minnesota-mandated B2). But all that is probably irrelevant compared to what people would pay to prevent another Iraq. The cost of a war needs to be added to the price of gasoline/crude.

"And you don't have to pay for a war to get ethanol or vegetable oil. So maybe lack of performance and the cost of big subsidies aren't so bad. Lots of people are beginning to think that."

Kevin Clemens, Editor at Large for European Car magazine, writes: "The high price of oil has made many alternative fuels suddenly look more attractive. The key will be to avoid getting caught into the politics and evaluate each possibility from a scientific and technical view. Most probably the future won't bring one easy solution, but instead energy needs for transportation will be met through a variety of different methods, depending upon the resources available in every part of the world. "

Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) capable of using E85 have been available since the early 1990s. It is estimated that five million FFVs have already been sold in the U.S. Mark Thorsten, New Car manager at Luther Eggebrecht Chevrolet in Hermantown, said the cost of the FFV components adds only a few hundred dollars to the price of a new vehicle. "Some engines that come in the Suburban, Tahoe and Impala, are already capable of using E85," said Thorsten. "But I would guess that 80 percent of the people that have those vehicles don't even know that they could be using E85 instead of gasoline."

As stated in the previous article, E85 sells for less per gallon (thanks largely to government subsidies to make it competitive), but it takes 1.5 gallons of ethanol to equal the energy in a gallon of gasoline. Consequently, the overall expense of using E85 is greater than gasoline. But, as Berg pointed out, there are those who are willing to absorb that extra expense, actually only a few dollars a month, rather than continue to put Middle East oil into their vehicles. There are also plenty of folks in the "sustainable" market who would prefer to use a renewable fuel rather than continue to consume the finite supply of fossil fuel in their mode of transport. It is one rare arena where far right and far left politics are in agreement.

Unfortunately those people are still a minority. Too many Americans look only at the bottom line. Just like WalMart shoppers who don't care that American jobs have left their town, state and country, only that they are paying less at the cahs register, gasoline will continue to be the dominant fuel for our vehicles because it is easier on their wallets. They may whine when the price of gasoline goes up a few cents, but they continue to drive large, gasoline-thirsty behemouths. Until the price of ethanol is substantially cheaper than gasoline, those with FFVs will likely continue to burn gasoline.

Another part of the E85 problem is infrastructure. There used to be two gasoline stations in the Duluth area that sold E85. Due to lack of demand, the London Road ICO station has removed their E85 pump. The only one remaining is at the Holiday station at the Spirit Mountain exit off of I-35, used mostly by state employees who are required to use E85 in state owned FFVs. E85 must be readily available at many locations, or its use will remain minimal.

Ethanol can be a viable alternative to gasoline, as proven in Brazil where ethanol is made from sugar cane. It is also lower in price than gasoline, thanks in part to higher taxes on gas. But Brazil did not ease into ethanol use. It took a very strong effort by the government and considerable money in the form of subsidies to make ethanol work. This effort began in the 1970s as a response to the oil embargo of 1973, and it was only the late 1990s before Brazil dropped its subsidies on ethanol. Fluctuating petroleum prices could easily lower the price of gasoline again, but most Brazilian drivers are ready for that possibility. Seven out of ten cars sold today in Brazil are FFVs.

The Brazilian experience will probably not work in the U.S., but that does not mean that we should not give up on alternative fuels. This column is much longer than my usual output, and could easily have gone longer still. The subject of alternative automotive fuels is too large for a few columns in this paper. As always, there is plenty of information - pro and con - available on that wonderfully wicked world wide web.