Noob question of the day.

[withac]

What's the purpose of adding ethanol to gasoline?

 

[mary900]

The theory is . . .because ethanol is derived from corn, it is supposed to decrease dependency on oil.

 

[withac]

Does it have any affect on performance, miles per gallon, or anything else?

 

[mikeb33]

Does it have any affect on performance, miles per gallon, or anything else?

It all gets worse.
Except for the purpose of reducing foreign oil dependency and emmisions, there is no upside. It is cheaper, but you get worse mileage.

 

[Rollin Thunder]

actully it does not even help that. It takes more gas to make 1 gallon of ethanol.

 

[Sepiroth]

While using E85 on my truck, during a 20 gallon fill up intervals, I averaged 13.94 miles per gallon. That was a combination of highway and city.

Now that the cost of E85 is 50cents cheper than gas, it's bot worth filling up with E85.

So I have started to fill up with regular 87. Using the same fill up intervals, my mileage has improved to 16.24 miles per gallon.

IMHO there really isn't that much mileage drop off when going to E85.

My numbers are true and factual, I am not trying to pull your leg.

Now the reason for the EPA putting 10% ethanol in regular gas is unknown to me.

 

[tybardy]

actully it does not even help that. It takes more gas to make 1 gallon of ethanol.

RT, can you back this claim up with facts? I have a really hard time believing that our country is stupid enought to burn 2 gallons of gas making 1 gallon of ethenol...

 

[withac]

Regardless, sounds like I should avoid it if possible, or does everybody use it? I filled up at Shell last week and that was where I noticed the sign.

 

[Sepiroth]

If you are looking at the sign that states there is 10-15% ethanol in the regular gasoline you are buying, good luck trying to find a station that does not. To the best of my knowledge, most pumps have that sticker.

 

[tybardy]

yes i havent seen a fill up station that didnt have a small ammount of ethenol in the gas. My truck takes E85 and i will NEVER use that crap, its hell on the motor

 

[withac]

So basically roll over and take it because that's all that's out there.

 

[tybardy]

well kinda, there is gas which has a small ammount of ethenol and then there is e85 which has has 85% ethenol...

 

[withac]

well kinda, there is gas which has a small ammount of ethenol and then there is e85 which has has 85% ethenol...

Gotcha, I didn't understand that. The stations round here have the 10 - 15% sign on them so it sounds like that's not too bad and like it can't be avoided.

 

[jey_]

Now the reason for the EPA putting 10% ethanol in regular gas is unknown to me.

Corn Subsidies. Government pays people to grown corn, artificially raising the price of corn, allowing the big farms to earn an artificially high profit from growing corn instead of something more useful. Note that it's the lawmakers from the corn-growing states (like Illinois) that support this program. Plus the "reduce foreign dependency on oil" argument, but that's debatable since we have the ability to drill more oil in this country.

RT, can you back this claim up with facts? I have a really hard time believing that our country is stupid enought to burn 2 gallons of gas making 1 gallon of ethenol...

I can believe it. We are paying, through our taxes, to turn corn into ethanol. Without the subsidies it wouldn't make any financial sense to do this because yes we are spending way more money to produce 1 gallon of ethanol than the price of 1 gallon of ethanol.

 

[Rollin Thunder]

RT, can you back this claim up with facts? I have a really hard time believing that our country is stupid enought to burn 2 gallons of gas making 1 gallon of ethenol...

sorry i worded that wrong. What i mean is it uses more gas for the entire process (growing, picking up, transporting, refining etc) that just to make gasoline...

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2005/2005-07-13-01.asp

 

[austexparts]

Not to mention a car running on e85 as apposed gasoline gets worse gas mileage......