Quote:
Originally Posted by redpoint5
My point being, I wonder what efficiency is possible if a major automotive manufacturer went all in on E85. 110 octane is quite good if an engine is tuned for it.
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The main issue would be cold-starting with some winter blend such as E70, or even to provide a limp-home mode with gasoline. Brazilian dedicated-ethanol cars and early flexfuels had an auxiliary cold-start gasoline reservoir under the hood for instance, so going one step further in order to at least level the game when it comes to MPG in a dedicated-ethanol engine would be harder. I'm sure direct injection would make it easier, despite the NOx issue. At least it could be easier to overcome the NOx issue in a dedicated-ethanol than in a Diesel, using water injection instead of DEF.