E85. What's the point?
 

I found the 1 and only E85 station in VA and the price was $2.89!! I paid $2.47 for my ethanol free gas today. Which gives 40% better FE over E85. Regular E10 was $2.17.

So what's the point? Is this normal or are they just trying to screw people over because they are the only E85 seller in VA? (That I've found)

Paid $2.079 for my last tank, with AMex another 6 cents a gallon less. E85 at that price is senseless, maybe why it's the only one? Below $2 a gal in many areas of Va now check gasbuddy for your area?

regards
mech

Yeah its close to $2 in my area. I bit the bullet and am testing ethanol free gas this week. Its only 20c higher than my normal station. Last time I tested E-free it was over $1 more than regular back at almost $4 gal in my Jetta. It was not worth the extra cost as it only got me and extra 3mpg.

Here in Iowa the average price spread is 26.5% E85 vs E10, I loose 18-20% mpg with the Impala so E85 is cheaper per mile.

I'd guess the "point" is they got a shipment of E85 at a price that causes them to want to price it that way so they aren't selling it at a loss, and not much E85 gets sold in your area so there it sits while high-volume regular got replenished at a lower price.

Depends on your priorities.

CCXR - Koenigsegg | Koenigsegg
Whats the point? MORE POWAHHH!

E100/E96h is a much more sensible option, as it decreases the amount of cash sent to the OPEC countries more effectively. And nowadays with direct injection becoming widespread in spark-ignited engines, cold-starts became less problematic.

When there's a little hiccup in the world economy, and gas goes to $4+ per gallon, that E85 will still sell for about $2.89. It's grasshoppers versus ants, basically.

Around here they just keep e85 20-30 cents cheaper, not worth it at that price.

It is if you blend up to 50/50.

It never crossed my mind that just because the price of a barrel goes down doesn't mean the price of ethonal does. Thanks.

Though some Diesel fuel and petroleum-based lube oils are still used from the cropping to the distillation...

Here in california, E85 makes sense when a refinery catches fire and gas goes to $4-$5 a gallon (about once every 4 months it seems).

The EPA (Ethanol Production Agency) says we need to have ethanol in our gas.

Ethanol production cost is mostly tied to corn and natural gas prices.

I don't think that's quite true. Gas needs octane boosters to work well in modern engines. Lots of things have been used for that, such as tetraethyl lead and MBTE. Those have been shown to have rather nasty environmental effects, so the EPA says don't use them. Ethanol works, is relatively cheap, and environmentally benign, so that gets used.

But E85 is a different thing than the 10% or so ethanol used as octane booster/oxygenator in normal gasoline.

But the government requires that 13 billion gallons of ethanol be blended into the fuel supply weather we need it or not. It's not the free market that chose ethanol as the octain booster.
Will Government Mandated Corn Ethanol Consumption Ever End?

Ethanol is not a bad fuel at all, but in America it would make more sense to use Natural Gas and eventually biomethane generated at landfills and sewage treatment plants.

Methanol is a better octane booster, would be cheaper and even more environmentally friendly.
Natural gas, coal or wood chips can be used to directly make it. No food crop needs to be grown to make it.

Methanol is reported to be more toxic and corrosive.

Turns out bio methane is full of CO2 and actually burns pretty dirty compared to natural gas.
I work with three 1500 horsepower boilers. They were all bought new and installed at the same time.
One runs up to 20% bio gas. Its only 10 years old and had been retubed.
The bio gas boiler also needs to have its tubed brushed twice as often.
The biogas feed line had to be constructed out of very expensive stainless steel. It has to be isolated from the gas circuit, charged up with compressed air and blown out once a week.

The other 2 boilers have almost as many hours and show no signs of need a retube any time this decade.

But that bio gas boiler saves between $1,000 and $3,000 per day, everyday it runs (and it runs about 350 days a year), so what ever the boil men charged for the retube was not even something that had to be though about.

The Gasoline its self is pretty toxic. Methanol is no worse than benzene already found in gas.
Ethanol is also corrosive.

Sure, but it's less corrosive than methanol.

Well, so is water. Especially if you add a bit of salt to it :-)

Ethanol gets less corrosive if you add a tiny amount of water. Or rather, not subtract the last bit of water at great cost.

Good point.

At any rate, some years ago I dropped the tank from the Coupe to replace the fuel pump and it was spotlessly clean, no corrosion and no crud, in a 19 years old at the time non-flex-fuel vehicle with a metal tank. I've never replaced the fuel filter in the 15 years I've owned it. I've run lots of straight E85 through it over the years.

Sounds like they are the Ethanol Production Agency.

Yeah, and they require earthquake reinforcement on buildings and bridges, whether or not you happen to be having an earthquake right now or now. Same with fire & flood protections, vaccinations, &c. Remember the old saw about locking the barn door after the horse was stolen?

No wonder the "pure" ethanol we use as automobile fuel in Brazil still has some 4% water content measured in volume.

http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2...enberg_2-b.pdf

Happened across this on different site. Page 5 they note 18.5% mpg loss from E10 to E85 almost exactly what I've experience with the 2 FFV I've owned.

It seems that Mercedes wants to increase the amount of ethanol per gallon to get a higher octane fuel.


Little more reading on Tier 3 fuels. And where image came from. http://s11.postimg.org/6zbsm997n/ford_ethanol.jpg

http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2...omass_2014.pdf