Alternative fuel finally makes it into the GR metro area

[GRGyp]

Found this out last night and got a little excited. My little pick-up truck is a flex-fuel vehicle and I'm interested to see how well it runs on this. Hopefully the price is around 60 cents less than gasoline, as you need that cost difference to offset the loss in gas mileage. (Ethanol has less BTU's than gasoline.)

Either way, I like the idea of keeping the money I spend filling my tank in the country.

http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4919147

[baronium]

Very Cool.

Be sure to let us know about your experience with E85.

[rallymatt]

Very Cool.

Be sure to let us know about your experience with E85.

Crystal Flash on Alpine has had a couple blends of Bio Diesel for quite a while now.

[michaelskis]

I wish my car would run on E-85, but it is a 2000 Impala, so it is regular gas for me. Sounds like there are no pre 2006 GM vehicles that will run on it. (I could be wrong though.)

I however do like the idea that they will be selling it. I think if given the option, a lot more people would start to use the E-85 mainly as a way to stick it to the gas company. More people who use E-85, the more available it will be in other places, and once that happens, new Ethanol refineries will be built, technology will improve making it cheaper, and the Gas prices will have to come down to compete.

[Occam]

Gas prices will have to come down to compete.

[GRGyp]

Sounds like there are no pre 2006 GM vehicles that will run on it. (I could be wrong though.)

GM started about 2000 with a very select list of vehicles. I have 2002 S-10 that has the 2.2L FFV engine it.

Here is good site that lists the flex fuel vehicles out there:

NEVC - Vehicle list

If your vehicle is on the list, just to be on the safe side, make sure to check your owners manual and the VIN to validate that the vehicle is indeed an FFV. FFV's have a sensor to adjust the fuel mix and require stainless steel components throughout the fuel system in the engine (or else the ethanol eats the parts), so you definitely want to make sure you vehicle was built for E85 before using it.

The beautiful thing about an FFV is you can run on any blend of gasoline to E85, so it's not an either/or situation. You could have half a tank of gasoline in the tank and full the rest of the tank with E85; the engine will just adjust to the blending of the fuels and keep on running.

[Allison Slater]

I've also heard about a modification available to diesel engines being sold by some company in california that allows your vehicle to run off of vegetable oil.. Straight off the shelf from Meijer's.

[torgo]

GM started about 2000 with a very select list of vehicles. I have 2002 S-10 that has the 2.2L FFV engine it.

Here is good site that lists the flex fuel vehicles out there:

NEVC - Vehicle list

If your vehicle is on the list, just to be on the safe side, make sure to check your owners manual and the VIN to validate that the vehicle is indeed an FFV. FFV's have a sensor to adjust the fuel mix and require stainless steel components throughout the fuel system in the engine (or else the ethanol eats the parts), so you definitely want to make sure you vehicle was built for E85 before using it.

The beautiful thing about an FFV is you can run on any blend of gasoline to E85, so it's not an either/or situation. You could have half a tank of gasoline in the tank and full the rest of the tank with E85; the engine will just adjust to the blending of the fuels and keep on running.

Man, they're all for stupid trucks and SUV's. Oh well. I dont drive that much anyways

[GRGyp]

Man, they're all for stupid trucks and SUV's. Oh well. I dont drive that much anyways

That's the catch, and Federal fuel regulations are the cause of it. America for the past decade wanted the big SUV. The big money making expensive SUVs don't get the fuel economy required by the federal government, so automakers can't build the numbers of them demanded by the public straight up. If they build fuel economy based pickups and SUVs and put FFV engines in them, however, they get credits to build more of the big money making gas hogs.

That's why in last few years you could buy all the fuel efficent S-10's, Sonoma's, and Rangers really cheaply at the end of the year. The car companies were never intending to make a profit on these vehicles. The big profits were in the extra big SUVs they were allowed to build because of all those credits they received from the little ones.

[GaryP]

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006610190316

A move by the nation's largest product-safety laboratory to remove its approval of ethanol fuel pumps has frozen the rollout of new ethanol stations and cast doubt on the legal status of the roughly 1,000 stations already selling E85 fuel.

Without certification from Underwriters Laboratories, the company that tests thousands of products for safety and manages the "UL" symbol, state officials and ethanol industry executives say E85 pumps may run afoul of state and local fire codes that require "listed" equipment for pumping fuel.