Strong Interest in FFVs and Hybrids
A new market research study shows very strong consumer interest in flex fuel vehicles, but fuel economy is an issue with them.
The study, by global market research company Synovate, shows that 37% of US consumers would consider purchasing a Flex Fuel vehicle that runs on gasoline or E85 (85% Ethanol) the next time they are in the market to buy a car. However, more than a third of these same consumers lose interest in E85 Flex Fuel vehicles when they learn that there is a reduction in fuel economy.
This information came from Synovate’s latest semi-annual survey of consumer attitudes toward advanced propulsion and alternative fuel vehicles.
Publishers of the study say “this means that E85 will have to retain a substantially lower price per gallon over gasoline for it to have any impact on consumption.”
The survey also shows big interest by consumers in “plug-in” hybrids, once they know what they are.
Familiarity with the technology is currently low but, after hearing an explanation of a grid-connected hybrid, 49% of consumers said they would consider purchasing one, roughly the same level of consideration as standard hybrid technology.
5 Comments »
Corky Estrada
It’s intuitively obvious to anyone with an understanding of the properties of materials that E85 has an energy density of only 72% that of gasoline.
If you look at the EPA fuel mileage figures for flex-fuel vehicles, it is also obvious that it takes four gallons of E85 to do the work of three gallons of gasoline.
Using that rule of thumb, it’s a piece of cake figuring out whether the pump price of E85 is a good deal.
Let’s say a driver pulls into a station where gasoline costs $3.05 per gallon, and E85 costs $2.65.
The driver should multiply the price of the gasoline by three and the price of the E85 by four, then buy whichever is less.
In this example: 3 x 3.05 = $9.15, while 4 x 2.65 = $10.60.
The consumer would come out ahead buying gasoline, and E85 would not be a better buy unless selling for less than $2.28 per gallon.
Cindy
This is a good rule of thumb – as long as price is your only concern. Ethanol’s benefits include helping the US become “less addicted to foreign oil” and helping the environment with less greenhouse emissions and helping your car with a higher octane fuel.
Tom Serfass
While I don’t dispute the energy content discrepancy between e85 and gasoline, I don’t think there has been much “field testing” of the differences in mileage in actual practice. I reference the American coalition on ethanol http://www.ethanol.org which did a study of gas mileage using a variety of ethanol blends. The results were surprising. The decrease in fuel economy using alcohol was not the upper theoretical limit, but rather a much smaller number depending on conditions. Why should that surprise us? It is not as if gasoline engines “use” all the energy in a gallon of gas. In fact, one of the reasons why gasoline is such a polluting fuel is because it is incompletely burned during “combustion”. The engines are at best 30% efficient which is to say that 30% of gasollines inherent energy is converted into work moving the car. So it seems like the “science” behind this reputed disadvantage isn’t as clear as the oil companies would like you to believe. I say -follow science- let’s do a bunch of road tests of ethanol and ethanol blends in a variety of actual cars and trucks, under varying conditions and lets see how each fuel(including normal gasoline) comes out!!
Tom Serfass
Quick question, why don’t makers of hybrids also make their cars FFVs?
Rob Carey
I think the auto industry focuses on one facet of fuel economy at a time. Maybe the FFV technology is not where Toyota needs it to be yet to introduce a FFV hybrid. I own a 2005 Prius and would like to see them come out with a diesel hybrid vehicle. I’d buy one! I’d want a diesel hybrid because it would allow me to use vegetable oil to run the vehicle. Using vegetable oil and the hybrid technology would really allow me to truly become oil independent!
May I digress further…
I believe that the auto industry is beholden to the oil industry. I remember in the 1980s hearing about flywheel technology and how it was going to revolutionize the auto industy. That technology was reportedly purchased by an automaker and put on the back burner – again because of the auto industry and the interdependence on the petroleum industry.
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