Ethanol Fuel Economy Study
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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Wayne Kaminaka
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jim Lewis
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
Mike B.
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.
Ricky G
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.
Dann
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.
G. Alexander
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.
James Long
I will have to agree with hawaii and florida on this. Ethanol is not the way to go. I ride a motorcycle everyday of the week and I know it pretty well. I check my milage everytime I fill up. I gained 11mpg when I went from e10 to good ol 93 octane Gasoline. And there was a notable difference in performance.
Everyone is confused about why we are
going to ethano. It is not because it is a (green) though it started out that way it has become more of a way to help all the big investors and growers to not loose there money. It doesnt have anything to do with the planet it is still to do with lining the pockets only now its ethanol tycoons instead of oil tycoons. They are not concerned with the quility of the fuel as long as the money is GREEN they dont care what the fuel does.
type_r
Interesting to have stumbled on to this while I was doing a search for the use of Sta-Bil products.
I’ve been experiencing problems with my vehicles not running as efficiently as they used to, and now I know that it’s because of the Ethanol gas mix. I’ve known this before, but never really thought much of it, until I started having problems with one of my vehicles running poorly in the morning until it warmed up. It would hesitate and pretty much mis-fire until it warmed up enough before it went away. The vehicle is a 2007 and I’ve always maintained it and kept up with preventive maintenance on it. So, that’s not the factor for this problem I’m seeing. Plus, I started seeing this problem a year after I bought the vehicle and thought the problem was because of cold weather, which induced the hesitation and mis-firing problem.
As stated above with their testing, I never saw any trouble codes or check engine lights ever, but the problem is there.
The mileage has been getting worse and worse over time as well.
I used to get 30 mpg on average for mixed driving. Right up until I started using HEET, Techron, Sea-Foam, and now Sta-Bil, I was only getting about 24 mpg on average. That’s a 20% drop in mileage in a newer vehicle in excellent condition and not an older one too.
Then I started using the above products, starting with the HEET and Techron together, my mileage went back up to almost 29 mpg on average. I drove the same routes and the same driving techniques as well.
Then I ran the vehicle for 2-3 tanks or so without any cleaner or gas dryer and the mileage started creeping back down again to 25-26 mpg on average. Plus, I was starting to have the hesitation and mis-firing going on again. Again, same driving conditions and techniques.
From that point, I used the Sea-Foam injector cleaner to see if that would help. Running 2 more tanks of gas and it was only yielding 26 mpg on average, which basically tells me that my injectors aren’t clogged as it would’ve probably made a difference in mileage if it was. The hesitation was less, but still there when the engine was cold.
Currently, I’m using Sta-Bil in the tank that I just filled and I immediately can tell that the engine runs smoother and idles better as well. The engine even feels more responsive and powerful as it did with the HEET and Techron in the tank. The idle was better with the HEET and Techron, but didn’t make a difference with the Sea-Foam product. So far, the idle has been the best with the Sta-Bil. But, it’s too early to tell anything else.
I will definitely report on here again as I finish off my tank and possibly another tank or 2 before I come back with results.
I do agree that Ethanol mix is a poor choice for North America, as we’re trying to make more efficient vehicles only to hinder it by using a gas mix that returns less mileage.
I’m not certain how they can say that operation costs is less per mile, when I’m losing mpg and having to supplement by using additives to make my vehicle more fuel efficient.
All this does is, adds the cost back to the consumer and like the other poster stated, it’s lining someone else’s pocket. Plus, there can be even more maintenance involved costs as time goes on that people haven’t even considered.
In real world results, it’s costing us more per mile to run our vehicles and RVs.
Gee, I have a boat that I just bought and can’t wait to experience the same issues as everyone else has. I better get this figured out before the boating season starts. :0)
What’s interesting is, that people talk about Hawaii and Florida as being problematic. Well, I happen to live in the Northwest where humidity isn’t a problem and I’m experiencing these issues with my vehicles. I pay very close attention to my mileage and calculate at every fillup. I check my tire pressures constantly to ensure that they’re at the right pressure.
All in all, Ethanol is not the solution to our problems, it’s only adding to it in other ways.
Bart Vosseller
Have to tell you I have noticed a decrease in fuel economy lately Thought my engine was sick. My spark plugs are not firing correctly funny color. It has become harder to start and fuel economy is down. And I noticed a decrease in performance when I put my foot into it. After asking around to a few friends and I here about ethanol added to fuel. and how around south Texas boat engines and car/truck fuel systems taken a beating from corrosion in system. a few people recomended not to let fuel system get to low before refueling. There has to be a better way. This fuel is going to really reduce the life engines and vehicles. Wait tell some lawyers get hold of a stalled vehicle death/injury from this fuel use and maybe someone will listen. They are not going to listen just because a few people are having problems. There is a plan to make money and save the planet. Please get real and just give me good “ol petro”…….
joe zuerlein
it is true we are getting screwed big time my 1989 toyota pickup is getting worse on millage thanks to congress and other dummys who do this any way who knows but i think who ever is up to this is they are trying to make us drive less not more at least that seems that way to me also i,m afraid ethanol will eat up my parts over time who ever is in charge should buy me a new truck every three years any say good bye to the good old days of driving for now because of the goofy enviomentalist,s please do somthing to get are millage back so i can at least put some cash in my pockets NOT THEIRS!
Newton Mitchell
Please forward additional information of the consequences of ethanol in vehicles and marine applications.
Ethanol – Is it Decreasing Your Gas Mileage? - KOWB 1290
[...] to assume that you will also see a decrease in mileage with E10 gas but to a lesser extent. A study by the American Coalition for Ethanol found that E10 yields a 1% to 2% drop in fuel economy, which [...]
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