Run your car on E85 ethanol fuel

I was recently given a price of $912.90 to convert my 1994 Ford Taurus to be able to run on E85 (85% ethanol and 15% gasoline). The price included new, enlarged fuel injectors, an additional computer and a "re-flash" of the existing on-board computer. Given that E85 sells for approximately $.50 less per gallon than regular 85 octane gasoline sure seems like it could be something worth looking into. After all, some quick math revealed that while driving an average of 15,000 miles per year at 18 MPG (miles per gallon), I could save over $400 ($3,038 for gasoline @ 3.65/gal vs. $2,634 for E85 @ $3.16/gal). In just a little over two years, the conversion would be paid for with the savings in fuel costs at today's prices and I would literally be "making money" from then on. But not so fast - there's more to the story.

Ethanol (aka. "moonshine" or "white lightning"), a grain alcohol that is used for "adult" beverages and fuel, is fast becoming America's "drop-in" replacement for conventional gasoline. Note that ethanol used for fuel is denatured, meaning that poison has been added so people can't drink it. Since ethanol is made from plants such as corn and sugarcane rather than pumped from the ground as crude oil is, it can be labeled a "renewable resource." Using today's technology, gasoline refined from oil is considered a "non-renewable resource."

Both ethanol and gasoline can be made to burn satisfactorily in today's cars with one major caveat - due to the ethanol content, a gallon of E85 contains approximately 27% less energy than a gallon of regular gasoline, 81,000 BTUs vs 111,500 BTUs (gasoline). A BTU (British Thermal Unit) is a basic measure of heat energy. This means that more ethanol is needed to equal the energy content of regular gasoline. Gallon for gallon, an E85 powered car will travel about 27% fewer miles than an equivalent gasoline powered car. For example, your Suburban, which gets about 13 MPG in town on gasoline, will now go only about 9.5 miles on a gallon of E85.

With this new information, a re-calculation of our cost/benefit ratio is in order. While not widely realized by the general public, E85 energy content value at the pump should be reflected in a MPG/BTU adjusted price to compensate for its lower energy values. For this example, the MPG/BTU adjusted price for E85 is $4.16 per gallon, as more E85 would have to be burned to equal the actual MPG of gasoline. With this in mind, my annual E85 fuel costs for driving 15,000 miles at 18 MPG would be about $3,466, $400 more per year than plain, old gasoline. Which means that, after a $912.90 conversion plus over $800 additional fuel costs over two years, E85 would actually cost me over $1,700 more than plain, old gasoline.

Of course, if you think by coughing up the extra dough to go E85 you're helping the environment by burning a renewable resource, think again. Some experts have estimated that using corn to make ethanol (as is the case in the US) for automobile fuel, it is possible that more fossil fuels (diesel and petroleum-based fertilizers) are used than the energy equivalent gained from the ethanol. How about lower emissions from E85 exhaust? Nope - any difference is negligible as todays gasoline cars are extremely clean-running machines.

Consider these facts the next time you think about an E85 conversion for your car, or even buying a flex-fuel car already designed to run on E85 - you could save thousands of dollars by making good decisions based on fact.