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The American Coalition For Ethanol just released a study on the how well vehicles operate on an ethanol fuel blend.
The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) released the results of its recent Fuel Economy Study, a pilot study that researched the fuel economy, cost per mile, and driveability of various blends of fuel, including unleaded gasoline, E10, E20, and E30.
“As ethanol production and use continues to expand from coast to coast, increased public discussion and media attention have often turned to a debate over ethanol’s fuel efficiency,” said Ron Lamberty, ACE Vice President / Market Development. “Because there was very little scientific information out there, ACE commissioned a pilot study to determine whether there are variances in gas mileage between ethanol blends and gasoline.”
The research tested unleaded gasoline, a 10% ethanol blend (E10), a 20% ethanol blend (E20), and a 30% ethanol blend (E30) in three late-model vehicles. The Chevrolet Impala, Ford Taurus, and Toyota Camry were not flexible fuel vehicles, and no modifications were made to them for this research. Care was taken to eliminate any human inputs that might render the tests unscientific, including the use of a computerized data logger and strict controls on the vehicles, fuel, and terrain.
Summary results:
Miles per gallon
The three vehicles averaged only 1.5% lower mileage with E10, 2.2% lower mileage with E20, 5.1% lower mileage with E30, and increased mileage of 1.7% when using the specially denatured E10 blend.
Cost per mile
Although the MPG of ethanol blends was slightly lower than the unleaded, the cost per mile of operation was generally lower. Also, the higher the concentrations of ethanol, the lower the cost per mile. Using the study’s average MPG, E10 is less expensive per mile than unleaded until ethanol’s cost is nearly 30 cents above unleaded. On a $20 bill, drivers can travel up to 15 miles farther on ethanol-blended fuel than on straight unleaded.
Driveability
Contrary to statements commonly made by vehicle manufacturers and technicians, no warning lights were displayed at any time while operating on any of the fuel blends. The data logger used for the research monitored all systems and detected no malfunction indicator lights (MIL), diagnostic trouble code lights (DTC), or emissions DTCs.
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April 11th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
2007 Toyota Camry…
The Toyota Camry has been the United State’s most popular car for four years running, and the 2007 model will likely continue this string of success.
There’s new styling, which is sleeker and more upscale than in earlier Camry cars, inside…
June 9th, 2006 at 12:54 pm
[...] Domestic Fuel : Archives : Ethanol Fuel Economy Study [...]
October 24th, 2006 at 1:21 am
I live in Hawaii and our legislators made it mandatory for all gas stations to sell E10 unleaded gas. Well I own a boat that I use only on weekends. I have had to change my spin on water separator filter every month or end up dead in the water. The E10 is causing water to build up in my built in 25 gallon fuel tank. I have been stalling out regularly now for the past 6 months. If I don’t replace or dump out all the water that builds up in my filter before I use the boat, it will stall and can be a life threatening problem out on the water. My owners manual for my boat motor plainly states the use of gasoline containing alcohol is not recommended and can cause severe engine damage. I would gladly pay double the price they charge for the E10 for plain old unleaded gas. The water separator spin on filters that I replace every month cost $12. I only use about 15 gallons of gas a month to operate my boat. I have had to rebuild the 3 carburetors on my outboard twice and drain throw away all the gas in my tank about 40 plus gallons of gas.
The water in the gas is gumming up the carbs so bad it won’t run or hardly idle. I have been using Sta-bil fuel stabilizer and Startron gas additives with little to no improvements. I have owned this boat for the past 4 years and prior to the E10 gas have never had a single problem with the gas or filters clogging in fact I never replaced it for the first 3 years. My personal opinion on ethanol blended gas is it will damage your gasoline powered outboard and if you have a fiberglass gas tank it will damage it and your entire fuel system. Try paying a boat dealer to rip out the floor in your boat to replace the fiberglass tank with either an aluminum or stainless tank along with all the rubber hoses that are not rated to handle alcohol, then rebuild the carbs or injectors. Can be quite costly. As for your claim on the increased fuel economy. I own a 2005 Nissan Frontier that has the built in fuel mileage computer. I used to average a solid 18 to 18.5 mpg. now 16 to 16.5 is the best it will get. The price for a gallon of gas never went down with the introduction of E10. It actually went up. Only the boat repair shops are happy, they are booked solid with repairs for boats that won’t run!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 15th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
You’re right Wayne. They (whoever “they” is) are trying to ease the American people into ethanol use and they think that E10 is the way to do it. Cars can utilize E10 since they’re not on high humidity water all the time and the fuel is used fairly quickly. This transission period has us all trying to use ’some’ ethanol in engines that are optimized for gasoline. If you used E100 in your boat, adjust your timing closer to TDC and up the compression ratio - you wouldn’t have as much trouble.
I’m in the process of brewing my own ethanol from sugar cane, but you could probably get the skins from a pineapple processing plant and make your own E100. I’m converting my 6 cylinder Mercruiser to ethanol use.
Check out running_on_ethanol dot tripod dot com also ethanolpro dot tripod dot com.
E85 would probably hold more water in suspension.
Good luck.
- - -Jim
January 22nd, 2008 at 12:57 am
I live in Michigan where E10 has been sold for many of years. Here, we do not have any problem with our cars or any other gasoline powered vehicle running on E10. Although most stations only mix our gas with 6-8% ethanol, we don’t have a problem out here.
June 19th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
At today’s gas prices, I figure that if E10 isn’t at least 10 cents (2.5%)cheaper than regular unleaded, I’m getting the regular unleaded! I used to live in Michigan where they didn’t have to tell you if it was E10 (so I bought Amoco “pure gasoline”). Now I live in Georgia where they have to tell you.
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Mike B,
You may not be having problems with E10 in boats in Michigan, but here in humid Florida, we’re having major problems with water in our boat fuel systems because of this crappy E10. Ethanol has a high affinity for water and we have high temperatures with high humilities which mean there is a lot more water vapor in the air here than in the Midwest. Boat engines are stalling because of water and phase separation. We tend to run very far and people will die when motors fail fishermen are trying to avoid summer thunderstorms in the Gulf and Atlantic ocean.E10 gas also goes bad faster than MTBE fuel- since the average offshore boat has a 100-200 gal tank, running all the fuel every 2 weeks isn’t always an option.
July 26th, 2008 at 5:57 am
Only newer cars in excellent condition will experience minimal drop in mpg of 2-3% as stated in EPA and other verifable studies. Reality: Almost all older engines or those without recent tune-up and scheduled maintenance will experience drops in mpg between 5-20 % when switching over to E10.
Also, “High Performance” engines, designed for higher burning temp and octane gas(conventional, non-alcohol) will notice the most dramatic drop in mileage with E10. Most marine outboard engines over 90hp, V6 or V8 autos, high-end luxury cars and motorcycles fall into “hi-perf” category.
Classic and vintage cars (without updated emissions system and oxygen sensors) also can not adapt to higher oxygen content & lower burning energy of E10.
— While it’s obvious that ethanol’s alcohol properties (solvent, degreaser, drying-agent, miscible/hygroscopic, etc.) will increase risks for engine & part damage…I suspect the Hawaii boater posted above is experiencing repeat and extreme issues due to: Running on gas that is contaminated (water or sediment) OR Fuel contains over the legal limit of 10% alcohol OR lack of strict adherance to all ethanol fuel precautions - which is mandatory when using a gas such as e10, not appropriate for engines living in or near high water/humidity conditions.
–E10 is never appropriate for marine (vented fuel system) engines b/c of it’s amazing ability to attract and absorb huge quantities of water in a very short time. Sadly, recently, throughout the U.S. (including Hawaii and FL posters above) recent changes in their state’s fuel laws resulted in lack of choice/option to gain access to NON-alcohol gasoline at their public pumps. Good Luck.