Earlier in the thread the question was raised why the auto manufacturers support E85. I was wondering the same thing until I stumbled on the answer (it is kept very quiet in the industry). The government threw a big carrot out: A flex-fuel vehicle will get a huge boost to the official CAFE fuel economy rating. Remember that GM/Ford etc all have to obtain corporate average mileage numbers. A model that can run on E85 is given a "fantasy number" to encourage E85 capable vehicles. For instance, the E85 Suburban has a CAFE rating of 30+ mpg. Not because it could ever achieve 30 mpg, but because of politics.

The politics, of course, are that mid west farmers are a big voting block and when money is put in their pockets, the "correct" candidate wins...

 

Zwede....

You are absolutely correct!!! That is ONE of the items I hinted at when I mentioned the government and big business "shaking hands" on an issue and the need to look at it more closely.

I commend you for your research.

 

I'm on the other side of this. Ethanol can and will be a significant factor in our dependancy on foreign fuels. The fact that we don't have enough of it right now, is because there was no need for it. Oil was cheap. Now that oil has went up, and is likely to stay up. (gone are the days of 10 dollar barrels of oil). We have to catch up with alternate fuels. And by catch up. I mean in research, production, shipping, etc. There have been huge advancements just in the past year or so. Somewhere in Europe, someone was able to create an ethanol blend that was less corrosive than the current blend. This will help greatly in the shipping area. I can say for a fact right now that all across Nebraska, Iowa, and other corn belt states that Ethanol plants are popping up faster than the corn that feeds them.

Now with that being said. Is corn based ethanol in it's current state the answer? Heck no. How quickly did the infrastructure for gasoline get built up? I'm pretty sure it didn't happen in 5 years. So neither is Ethanol. Give it some time. Brazil seems to be doing all right. Yes I know there Ethanol is manufactured using sugar, rather than Corn. And yes I know corn is the least efficent "plant material" to make ethanol out of, but we have plenty of it.


**edit** BTW if ethanol (either sugar based, or corn based) isn't the answer then what is?
A. It's a renewalable resource grown right here by Americans
B. It will provide jobs in the Heartland (which is badly needed), and help decrease the farmers dependency on the federal government (which is also badly needed. The whole farm subsidy thing is a mess!)
C. Oil still going to have to be used, and we'll need to open up areas where that oil is used to help supplement the ethanol production.

We sure as hell can't depend on oil from some of the most unstable countries in the world.

 

I don't think anyone is saying the ethonal isn't good, just that its not a savior, and that right now, it is not cost effective.

 

You know, I just wrote 7 paragraphs as a rebuttal to "the other side" of this topic. But I deleted it all.

I just realized that this thread was started on a simple question and it turned into a political discussion....(which I contributed to) so, gentleman, believe what you want...I'm out of here.

 

We're very lucky to live up nort here in Minnesoooota, ya know. You betcha we have lots of E85 everywhere! 'Bout 300 pumps in state ya know. It's about as easy to find as tater-tot hot dish suppers at the local VFW.

I have a '02 Tahoe that uses E85 about 90% of the time. The only time I don't use it is when I'm out in the sticks and can't find a pump.

As far as mileage is concerned, I see about 1/2 mile per gallon less that with regular gas. We also get E85 about $0.40 - $0.50 less per gallon than regular too. As far as I'm concerned, lets stick it to "our friends" in the Middle East, convert all vehicles to E85 and try to be come as energy independant as possible.

I read all that garbage about E85 and losing 25% MPG and power. My own expereince say's otherwise. It's plenty cost effective for me. Save about $10.00 a tank!

The only reason I purchased and HHR is all the flexfuel Impalas were gone when I tried purchase during the last 0% event. Well, I did like the looks of the HHR too!

 

I say suck them dry and then rely on our own natural resources. I like oil and will probably never switch unless forced. I don't buy into the whole E-85 is the savior thing. I think its meant for tree hugging hippies. But thats just my opinion.

 

I aint no tree huggin hippie! Hell, I found out well after I purchased our Tahoe that it was E85. I bought the damn thing to run over those "2 door specks" those "hippies" drive. Might as well be speed bumps to me.

Anywho, My only point is I'm tired of send our greenbacks over to Abdul and the gang just so they can use the $$ to take pot shots at US.

 

CH
A couple of interesting articles have been written, by credentialed people, that support your first line statement.

 

The tree hugging hippie comment was just a joke. If you support E-85 thats cool but nothing I've seen, read, or heard has yet to sell me on it. Maybe that will change at some point or maybe the government will force it on me like this 10% crap I have to put in my tank now. I'm one of those people who believe we have a plentiful supply of untapped oil and that alternative energy isn't feasible or cost effective at this time. Like I said maybe that will change but I don't feel it will be during my lifetime. I truly do feel we should use up as much of everyone elses resources before we tap our own.