This is the sixth year he has posted 10 car maintenance gift ideas. Last year I bought myself some magnetic wrench organizers, so my ratchet wrenches are taking up much less space in my drawer. The other 9 items were fine and I am not saying there is anything wrong with going ethanol if you identify with that lifestyle, but we will get to the math later, but long story short, if ethanol is going for half as much as 87, and you drive 15,000 miles annually, with average fuel economy, you could theoretically break even going ethanol in one year.
Everyone knows the best Decemberesque gift idea is this book!
Increase Your Gas Mileage: 48 Tips Anyone Can Use to Get Great Gas Mileage and Save Money
Oh no. I haven't bought it. I don't need to, I am super smart!
Anyway, his 10 gift suggestions are:
- Ramps appropriate for your vehicle,
- An Oil Udder, like an oil filter wrench, but with a built-in funnel.
- A Ryobi polisher,
- Drill brushes (for those not clever enough to modify a dollar store brush and cheap fasteners),
- A smoke machine,
- A utility knife that doubles as a scraper,
- Ratchet extensions,
- A big box of drill bits and the smaller the bit the more are included,
- A spark plug socket set (I only need one size!
),
- The $700 ethanol conversion kit that inspired me to share this with you fine gentlemen (and freebeard; he is his own thing),
- and a spill-proof funnel. Why does anyone add coolant any other way?!
He linked to race ramps, which alone are $449.00.
Do they think they are Snap-On?!
EFlexFuel.com says "Select your make and model for a vehicle-specific fit."
Apparently my Accord was available with a 1.6-liter engine in Europe.
It was only 114 HP!
My Civic should have 115!
The 1999 Civic SiR achieved 182 HP from 1.6L, but not on ethanol!
They have a kit for my car!
There are 2 kits and the other one is $960!
If someone offered me $960 for my Civic I would get the keys!
It comes with an app with 2\6 profiles. There aren't any claims on fuel savings, but there will be more later.
"Up to 10%\20% more horsepower*"
"More torque*"
Configurable 2D\3D fuel maps
* Depending on your engine technology and/or your custom built of the engine.
Chris indicated that ethanol was 50-60% of the cost of 87, but the nearest E85 I can find is 112.3 miles away, and the only price that I can find for the entire state is the same price as 87!
Chris never says where he is, nor is the gas station sign that he shared necessarily near his location, but it showed $3.699 for 87 and $1.859 for E85.
I drove my Accord 9,044.4 miles in the last 12 months, using $271.992 gallons, and paying $598.16, averaging $2.20.
That station sold E85 for 49.7% less than 87, so if that were available in my area, and gas prices are stable (which they never are), then I could save $297.54 a year, requiring 2.35 years to break even.
However,
FuelEconomy.gov states
Quote:
|
Due to ethanol's lower energy content, [flex fuel vehicles] operating on E85 get roughly 15% to 27% fewer miles per gallon than when operating on regular gasoline, depending on the ethanol content. Regular gasoline typically contains about 10% ethanol
|
So, I would really need 2.97 years to break even--except my lifetime fuel economy is 51.2% above the EPA rating.
That seems like a significant fraction of how long people own their car. Since only
7% of vehicles on the road are flex fuel, I don't see potential used car buyers caring about that feature.
I tried to find recent data, but I cannot find anything reflecting covid. FuelEconomy.gov still claims 15,000 miles a year (while everything claimed around 14,300 for 2019) and it looks like they calculate $3.379 per gallon.
They claim I would spend $400 annually more than the average driver, indicating that a boring driver would spend $1,900 on $3.379 gas, going 15,000 miles on 562.3 gallons, which would be 26.676 MPG.
So, if you can buy E85 for $1.679, get 26.676 MPG (on 87), and you drive 15,000 miles yearly, you would get more like 21.074 MPG, costing you $1,195.07 annually, saving $704.93.
Huh.
The average driver could allegedly pay for an ethanol conversion kit in 362 days?
Huh.