E85 in the United States

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1 Availability
2 Constraints
3 Federal use
4 Price
5 Fuel economy
6 Vehicles
7 E85 and the 2006 Minnesota Governor's race
8 See also
9 References

[edit] Availability

All Data Nov 2006 from the Department of Energy and E85refueling.com^[1]^[2]. Links go to each state's list of stations; see notes below for caveats.

State	Stations	State	Stations	State	Stations	State	Stations
Alabama	1	Alaska	0	Arizona	5	Arkansas	1
California	4	Colorado	14	Connecticut	0	Delaware	0
District of Columbia	3	Florida	12	Georgia	6	Hawaii	0
Idaho	2	Illinois	132	Indiana	46	Iowa	56
Kansas	14	Kentucky	5	Louisiana	0	Maine	0
Maryland	5	Massachusetts	1	Michigan	27	Minnesota	300
Mississippi	1	Missouri	63	Montana	5	Nebraska	29
Nevada	8	New Hampshire	0	New Jersey	0	New Mexico	5
New York	6	North Carolina	12	North Dakota	31	Ohio	21
Oklahoma	4	Oregon	4	Pennsylvania	10	Rhode Island	0
South Carolina	37	South Dakota	50	Tennessee	5	Texas	19
Utah	4	Vermont	0	Virginia	4	Washington	5
West Virginia	2	Wisconsin	61	Wyoming	4

NOTES:

Not all stations are publicly accessible
Data may be out of date (check link for your state and call ahead)
Data sourced from U.S. Department of Energy & NGO National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition may differ
Station count always the greater of two numbers when sources differ.

Minnesota has the largest number of E85 fuel pumps of any U.S. state with 300 stations,^[3] while Illinois has the second-greatest number of E85 pumps with 132.^[4] Most other US states have fewer than ten. Although Minnesota has the most E85 pumps they only represent a tiny fraction of the total fuel outlets. (All filling stations in Minnesota are however required to sell E10, a mixture of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline.)

[edit] Constraints

Concerns about rising gasoline prices and energy dependence have led to a resurgence of interest in E85 fuel; for example, Nebraska mandated the use of E85 in state vehicles whenever possible in May 2005. Similarly, whereas selling any fuel containing more than 10% ethanol is still currently illegal in some states, even this is rapidly changing. For example, Florida proposed changing state law to permit the sale of alternative fuels such as E85 at an October 7, 2005 meeting, and held public hearings on October 24th. The expected outcome of having held this hearing is the changing of Florida state law to permit the selling of alternative fuels such as E85 by the end of 2005 to the general public. (Currently, only county, state, and Federal fleet vehicles may purchase E85 in Florida, from only 3 pumps in the state.) Several other states have similar laws still on their books that prevent the sale of E85 to the general public. The expected general outcome, though, is the rapidly widening acceptance of E85 sales to the general public in all of the United States by the end of 2006.

[edit] Federal use

US Federal fleet flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) are required to operate on alternative fuels 100% of the time upon the signing of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 into law by President Bush on August 8, 2005. (See Section 701 for this requirement.) Formerly, such FFVs were required to be operated by the end of 2005 on alternative fuels only 51% of the time (i.e., the majority of the time) by Executive Order 13149. (See Executive Order 13149 ^[5], dated April 21, 2000.) This means that the US Government's use of E85 is effectively doubled as of August 8, 2005 with the signing into law of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This jump in consumption had the effect of limiting public availability of E85 coincident with shortages of gasoline due to impacts of hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico during the 2005 hurricane season. Although the price of corn had not changed greatly, the usage of E85 nonetheless jumped, thereby creating a shortage of E85, and causing E85 prices to rise coincident with gasoline prices during the 2005 Hurricane Season.

[edit] Price

As of 2005, E85 is frequently sold for up to 36% lower price per quantity than gasoline. Much of this discount can be attributed to various government subsidies, and, at least in the United States, the elimination of state taxes that typically apply to gasoline and can amount to 47 cents, or more, per gallon of fuel. The US federal tax exemption that keeps ethanol economically competitive with petroleum fuel products is due to expire in 2007, but this exemption may be extended through legislative action. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the price of E85 rose to nearly on par with the cost of 87 octane gasoline in many states in the United States, and was for a short time the only fuel available when gasoline was sold out, but within four weeks of Katrina, the price of E85 had fallen once more to a 20% to 35% lower cost than 87 octane gasoline.

[edit] Fuel economy

Unfortunately, because ethanol contains less energy than gasoline, fuel economy is reduced for most 2002 and earlier FFVs (flexible-fuel vehicles) that are currently on the road by about 30% (most after 2003 lose only 15-17%, or less) when operated on pure E85 (summer blend). Some of the newest vehicles can lessen this reduction to only 5-15%, but as recently as 2007 (?) the Environmental Protection Agency stated on its website that several of the most current FFVs were still losing 25-30% fuel efficiency when running on E85. A few cars actually claim to provide better fuel economy on E85 than on gasoline; for example, the Saab AeroX turbocharged concept car actually claims better fuel economy and higher power on 100% ethanol (E100) than gasoline through using a higher compression ratio engine. Still, for almost all FFVs, more E85 is typically needed to do the same work as can be achieved with a lesser volume of gasoline. This difference is sometimes offset by the lower cost of the E85 fuel, depending on E85's current price discount relative to the current price of gasoline. As described earlier, the best thing for drivers to do is to record fuel usage with both fuels and calculate cost/distance for them. Only by doing that, can the end-user economy of the two fuels be compared.

For example, an existing pre-2003 model year FFV vehicle that normally achieves, say, 30 MPG on pure gasoline will typically achieve about 20 MPG, or slightly better, on E85 (summer blend.) When operated on E85 winter blend, which is actually E70 (70% ethanol, 30% gasoline), fuel economy will be higher than when operating on the summer blend. To achieve any short-term operational fuel cost savings, the price of E85 should therefore be 30% or more below the price of gasoline to equalize short term fuel costs for most older pre-2003 FFVs for both winter and summer blends of E85. Life-cycle costs over the life of the FFV engine are theoretically lower for E85, as ethanol is a cooler and cleaner burning fuel than gasoline. Provided that one takes a longterm life-cycle operating cost view, a continuous price discount of only 20% to 25% below the cost of gasoline is probably about the break-even point in terms of vehicle life-cycle operating costs for operating most FFVs on E85 exclusively (for summer, spring/fall, and winter blends).

Fuel economy in fuel-injected non-FFVs operating on a mix of E85 and gasoline varies greatly depending on the engine and fuel mix. For a 60:40 blend of gasoline to E85 (summer blend), a typical fuel economy reduction of around 23.7% resulted in one person's carefully executed experiment with a 1998 Chevrolet S10 pickup with a 2.2L 4-cylinder engine, relative to the fuel economy achieved on pure gasoline. Similarly, for a 50:50 blend of gasoline to E85 (summer blend), a typical fuel economy reduction of around 25% resulted for the same vehicle. (Fuel economy performance numbers were measured on a fixed commute of approximately 110 miles roundtrip per day, on a predominantly freeway commute, running at a fixed speed (62 mph), with cruise control activated, air conditioning ON, at sea level, with flat terrain, traveling to/from Kennedy Space Center, FL.). It is important to note, however, that if the engine had been specifically tuned for consumption of ethanol (higher compression, different fuel-air mixture, etc.) the mileage would have been much better than the results above. The aforementioned fact leads some to believe that the "FFV" engine is more of an infant technology rather than fully mature.

The amount of reduction in mileage, therefore, is highly dependent upon the particulars of the vehicle design, exact composition of the ethanol-gasoline blend and state of engine tune (fuel air mixture and compression ratio primarily).

[edit] Vehicles

As of 2006, approximately one in forty vehicles on the road in the U.S. can run on E85.^[6]

In 2006, GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner stated that GM would continue to produce FFVs due to the positive image that they create for the company. He went on to say that GM would focus heavily on increasing the distribution system for E85, and that the fueling infrastructure had to grow "very, very rapidly." As of 2006, GM had built 1.7 million E85 capable vehicles, with plans for 400,000 more before years end. ^[7]

[edit] E85 and the 2006 Minnesota Governor's race

In the 2006 election for Minnesota Governor, the issue of E85 may have helped re-elect Republican Tim Pawlenty. In the final week of the campaign, DFL Lieutenant Governor candidate Judi Dutcher was stumping for her running mate Mike Hatch. A reporter asked Dutcher what Hatch's stance on E85 was and Dutcher appeared to be unfamiliar with E85. As Hatch tried to cover up Dutcher's gaffe, he became angry with reporters which many people think led to a lack of support and Pawlenty's re-election in an election year when Republicans did not fare well as a group.