Wilcox & Flegel Oil Company, one of the largest fuel distributors in the Northwest, is committed to E85 and is offering the product in the city of Olympia, Washington. This is the sixth location the distributor is supplying.

The recently opened E85 pump located at the Shell station at 3505 Pacific Ave., is selling the product at more than 80 cents below regular unleaded gasoline. In the past week, the facility sold more than 270 gallons of the clean burning, alternative fuel.

Aaron Wilcox, special projects manager for Wilcox & Flegel said that the group is a longtime distributor of diesel and gasoline that started selling E85 fuel about a year ago. They began selling E85 because the Detroit automakers chose to build flexible fuel vehicles.

Wilcox & Flegel Oil Company plans on adding up to ten E85 sites across the state of Washington.

Auto blogs are buzzing about ethanol boosting technology.

Pickup Trucks.com reports this week that Ford is developing a new line of turbocharged ethanol direct-injection gasoline engines under the code name Bobcat.

Bobcat engines will feature ethanol boost technology, developed by Ethanol Boosting Systems, LLC of Cambridge, Mass., that promises 5 to 10 percent greater fuel economy than EcoBoost engines.

Ethanol boosting starts with a small turbocharged engine with separate gasoline and ethanol fuel injectors for each cylinder. The gasoline system mixes fuel and air in the motor’s intake manifold using port injection. The second system injects small amounts of ethanol directly into the combustion chamber to control premature detonation, or knock, that results from the high temperature and pressure of a turbocharged engine. The ethanol prevents knock by cooling the air/fuel mixture until the engine is ready for combustion.

The Bobcat engines could become viable alternatives to diesel engines in full-size pickups.

The National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition announced today that during model year 2009, Chrysler Corporation, a member of the NEVC, will offer autos/light trucks/SUVs as Flexible Fuel E85 compatible in the upcoming year.

The Chrysler brand 2009 FFVs include:

Dodge:
2.7L Avenger
3.3L Grand Caravan
4.7L Dakota
4.7L Ram
4.7L Durango

Chrysler:
2.7L Sebring
3.3L Town and Country
4.7L Aspen

Jeep:
4.7L Commander
4.7L Grand Cherokee

“We commend Chrysler for their continued production of flexible fuel vehicles,” said Executive Director of the NEVC, Phil Lampert. “As the price of fuel has risen, many consumers are looking for smaller engines in an FFV and the 2.7 liter Avenger and Sebring address that demand. We look forward to the introduction of additional E85 vehicles as Chrysler moves forward in its commitment to produce half of their entire production as flexible fuel by 2012.”

According to the Nikkei Business Daily, Japan’s Suzuki Motor Company will begin selling flexible fuel vehicles running on 100 percent ethanol by the year 2010. The FFVs will be offered for sale in both the U.S. and Brazil.

Suzuki will first begin offering vehicles that can run on 25 percent ethanol in Brazil in March. Currently in the U.S., the highest ethanol blend of fuel which can be sold is 85 percent. Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and Nissan currently sell these vehicles and there are about seven million on America’s roads. Suzuki’s move would mark a huge development in ethanol-powered vehicles, and a huge shift for Suzuki, which hasn’t had any alternative fuel-specific offerings in its lineup to this point.

The Brazilian ethanol industry is experiencing amazing growth right now. The industry is based on the conversion of sugarcane to ethanol and, according to reports, it is a completely self-sustaining industry. The United States main source of ethanol is corn.

A top General Motors executive believes that natural gas could be a replacement for gasoline on U.S. roads in the near future.

This story from CNNMoney.com quotes GM’s top researcher who said that his company sees natural gas an “enticing” alternative to petroleum… and that means new interest in natural gas by the major American automaker:

“It is abundant, affordable and relatively clean,” Larry Burns, GM vice president of research and development, said in a posting on GM’s Fastlane blog.

“In the near term, we can use compressed natural gas in internal combustion engines,” Burns wrote. “In the long term, natural gas could be an excellent source for making hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles, either at the filling station or in people’s homes.”

This is not the first time GM has offered up ideas and practices to help wean us away from petroleum. The company has a large effort to attract drivers to their ethanol-powered vehicles, as well as development of the Chevrolet Volt, a battery-powered car, and vehicles that run on hydrogen.

With the rising interest in biodiesel and the increasing popularity of biodiesel-fueled vehicles (as we reported last Tuesday, July 22nd), consumers need to know how they can use the green fuel and still keep their manufacturer’s warranty.

Recently, biodiesel received ASTM approval for meeting standards for fuel use. That means that any biodiesel that meets that standard is as safe as regular diesel fuel. But some auto manufacturers and dealers are being a little hesitant in giving biodiesel a thumbs up for use. This story from the gas2.0.org web site has tips from the Northwest Biofuels Association to make sure that those car makers will honor their warranties, even if you use biodiesel:

* Whether or not a biodiesel blend is “recommended” by your automaker is separate from the question of whether the use of biodiesel affects engine warranty coverage. Make sure you know exactly what your automaker specifies.
* Because vehicle warranties only cover parts and workmanship, fuel is not covered under any vehicle warranty.
* Conversely, if consumers that use biodiesel have an engine failure unrelated to the use of biodiesel and the cause is found to be faulty parts or workmanship, then the failure would be covered by the warranty.
* If a customer brings in a vehicle that has used biodiesel and the customer is told that the warranty is voided solely because the customer is using biodiesel, this violates the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
* A vehicle’s warranty cannot be voided solely due to the use of biodiesel.

The association included the tips with a letter written in collaboration with Oregon auto dealers and Oregonian biodiesel distributors.

Diesel-powered vehicles are gaining in popularity, despite the higher price of diesel fuel compared to regular unleaded gasoline. And that rise in interest in those vehicles is good news for the biodiesel industry.

Business Week reports sales are brisk with many makes getting into the business:

Howard Cooper Volkswagen in Ann Arbor, Mich., for example, says that a buyer putting money down today will probably have to wait until January to receive his car. Volkswagen of America plans to sell 15,000 TDI Jettas this year. Next year, VW figures to sell more than 30,000.

Perhaps the company most fully invested in diesel engines is Global Vehicles of Alpharetta, Ga., which plans to roll out Mahindra-branded pickup trucks at the end of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010. Mahindra is the brand marketed by Indian conglomerate Mahindra & Mahindra. Some 200-plus dealers have signed up to sell the vehicles. Global Vehicles Marketing Director Xavier Beguiristain says the company is undeterred, but not unconcerned.

The obvious big attraction is the better mileage diesel vehicles get. Mahindra pickups are expected to get about 30 mpg. That’s more than 50 percent better than full-sized pickups and 30 percent better than some midsize pickups. And VW’s TDI Jetta could get up to 44 miles to the gallon.

This is good news for the biodiesel industry, as the increased production meets the increased demand (or is that the other way around?). Vehicle manufacturers do warn that using homemade biodiesel could void the warranty. So make sure to use commercially-approved biodiesel… at least until that three years, 36,000 miles is up.

Minnesota’s Governor Tim Pawlenty recently announced a partnership between General Motors Corp. (GM) and the National Governors Association which will assist in increasing the number of E85 fueling stations across the country. No specific numbers have been announced but the goal is to boost the slow pace at which new pumps capable of dispensing 85% ethanol fule have been added in recent years.

GM agreed to find the appropriate locations to add the E85 through the numbers in their customer database of registered vehicles. They will aslo assist in finding state grants for the sites. The automaker recently announced their 18 vehicle flexible fuel lineup for model year 2009. Ford, GM and Chrysler have all agreed to offer have their vehicle line as E85 compatible by 2012.

GM has assisted in installing about 300 E85 pumps in 15 states over the last three years. GM cars and trucks account for 3 million of the 7 million flex-fuel vehicles on U.S. roadways and the company produced more than 1 million flex-fuel models in North America and Brazil last year.

DETROIT – General Motors will offer 18 flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) in model year 2009. The number of E85 compatible vehicle models available in 2009 is a sharp increase from the past following the group’s commitment to making their line at least half E85 compatible by 2012.

“We continue to believe that biofuels, specifically E85, is the most significant thing we can do in the near-term to offset future energy demands,” said Beth Lowery, GM vice president of Environment, Energy and Safety Policy. “We are on target to make 50 percent of our vehicles flex-fuel capable by 2012 providing the infrastructure is in place.”

The models cover the gamut from the four-cylinder Chevrolet HHR small crossover to the full-size Cadillac Escalade ESV luxury utility.

Infrastructure includes both the availability of the E85 fuel and stations where it is sold. Currently, there are more than 1,600 E85 stations thorughout the U.S.

GM cars and trucks account for 3 million of the 7 million flex-fuel vehicles on U.S. roadways and the company produced more than 1 million flex-fuel models in North America and Brazil last year.

Below is the listing of 2009 models GM offers that include flex-fuel capability at no additional charge to the customer:

Chevrolet: Avalanche, Express, HHR, HHR Panel, Impala, Silverado, Suburban, Tahoe

GMC: Savana, Sierra, Yukon, Yukon XL

Cadillac: Escalade, Escalade ESV, Escalade EXT

Hummer: H2, H2 SUT

Buick: Lucerne

“We are pleased to see the increasing number of models of FFVs that General Motors will be offering during model year 2009 and are especially excited about the new 4 cylinder addition to their E85 model lineup,” stated Executive Director of the NEVC, Phil Lampert.

General Motors’ Hummer has caught a lot of heat with gas prices climbing above $4 and $5 a gallon. Those high prices could be the death sentence for gas-guzzling, all-terrain vehicles, as GM looks to save its business by finding products that will sell. But their could be a glimmer of hope on the horizon for the go-anywhere… but drink-everything-in-the-tank… vehicle: biodiesel.

This story in the Boston Herald says the folks at GM need to figure out how to get good gas mileage while maintaining the Hummer’s legendary off-road performance:

For that reason, you’re not likely to see a gasoline-electric hybrid Hummer - too much weight and complexity for the backcountry - but the brand will offer biodiesel-powered versions of all its vehicles by 2010. Biodiesel isn’t made from oil and improves fuel economy 30% or so versus gasoline-powered versions of the same vehicle.

“In the end, I think they’ll develop the” smaller “H4 and improve the fuel economy of the H3 and H2.”

Leaner and greener, while keeping the meaner… isn’t that what keeps any business in business these days?