i was just thinking today...with the new pace car going to run e85 for the indy 500, what does it take to switch a car over to run it. it is 30 cents a gallon cheaper here so it would be worth the expense....
shane

 

Not worth it. It will drop your fuel economy by about 25% or more.
GM

 

While it's very possible to make the conversion, it will take quite a bit and it will cost $$$. The E85 isn't cheaper when you factor in the decreased MPG E85 returns...it actually costs more per mile when you do the math. At $3.30/gallon for premium, E85 would have to cost less than $2.64/gallon to come close to break even. (Those are rough numbers off the top of my head based on ~20% less MPG with E85, and I'm being generous at 20%.) YMMV

Bottom line: it will cost you more $$$ in gas, be less convenient in terms of decreased range per tankful, and be less convenient when it comes time to find a gas station...it's not worth the expense to convert.

 

That, and the price of corn chips are going up...

 

That, and the price of corn chips are going up...net loss all around..

 

Pure ethanol contains 67% the energy of gasoline. So for every 10% ethanol in the gasoline, you loose 3.3% fuel economy. Using these numbers and fourth grade arithmetic, the E85 fuel, being 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, has 72% the energy of gasoline. So you can multiply whatever gasoline mileage you are getting with 100% gasoline by 0.72 to see what your mileage would be with E85. For the stuff today that is 10% ethanol, if you want to compare gas mileage of that compared to pure gasoline, you multiply by 0.967, roughly a 3% loss.

So the break even point for E85 would be a price of 72% of what you pay for pure gasoline. If you are paying $3.25 per gallon for pure gasoline, then the break-even price on E85 would be $2.34 per gallon. The break-even on the stuff that is 10% ethanol is .967 x 3.25 or $3.14 per gallon. I doubt you are getting that kind of a break on the stuff that is 10% ethanol and I am sure you won't get E85 for $2.34.

And then you have to add in the cost of converting a vehicle to E85.

These little details are things the clowns don't inform the public about when they push ethanol. It is complete and total nonsense.

In addition, it takes roughly as much energy to make ethanol as you get out of it. And a lot of that energy comes from imported oil! Go figure. There is a lot of debate on this but trust me that within about plus or minus 20%, ethanol delivers about the same energy as it take to make it. It is lousy energy policy.

Then look at how the price of corn is running up the pride of all meat, milk, and many other daily commodities. People who have looked at the details say that it would consume darn near all of our farming land to grow enough corn to make all the ethanol needed to switch everyone to E85. Add to that the fact that fertilizer runoff from mid-western farming land is already depleting oxygen levels in the water at the delta region of the Mississippi river and this, in turn, is killing sea life. If this ethanol push is actually allowed to go into high gear, the fertilizer runoff problem will be huge.

We have our politicians to thank for this mess.

 

ah didnt realize the e85 was going to get worse mileage....guess the old truck keep on drinking gas lol