Yada...yada...yada
Posted on 09/02/2006 12:54:13 PM PDT by thackney
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Sport-utility loyalists may be four-wheeling through the wrong mud bog if they think ethanol-friendly SUVs will cut gas costs and help the U.S. curb its dependence on foreign oil, according to a Consumer Reports study released Thursday.
The consumer watchdog publication ran a battery of tests on the 2007 Chevy Tahoe flexible-fuel vehicle, which can run on either E85 -- a mixture consisting of 85% ethanol -- or gasoline, and found that the SUV's mileage dropped from 14 mpg to 10 mpg on E85.
The decline could be expected in any flex-fuel vehicle, the report said, because ethanol has a lower energy content than gasoline.
Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that ethanol has 75,670 BTUs per gallon instead of 115,400 for gasoline, which means that you would have to burn more fuel to generate the same amount of energy.
So the already expensive fill-up gets even more painful. With E85 costing an average of $2.91 in August, the fuel-economy penalty means drivers are essentially paying almost $4 for the equivalent of a gallon of gasoline, the report said.
Another way of looking at it: Consumer Reports found that the Tahoe's driving range decreased to 300 miles on a full tank from 440 on gasoline -- more trips to the pump, if drivers can even find a pump.
Of the 176,000 gas stations in the country, only about 800 sell E85. As it stands now, most people can't realistically use those pumps because they're primarily located in Midwest corn country, where the ethanol is produced. Reasons for the scarcity range from stricter regulations in some states to difficulty in shipping the fuel.
But Ron Lamberty, the head of market development at the American Coalition for Ethanol, said there's much more to the story than just saving a few bucks.
"If you're concerned about emissions, you should use E85," he said. "If you want to make sure the money you spend is circulated through the American economy rather than some South American or Middle Eastern country, the choice is E85."
Even the assertion that ethanol is costlier isn't necessarily true in the long run, he pointed out. For one thing, lower BTU in ethanol means less heat, which translates to longer engine life, he explained. Also, if converting current pumps was allowed, it would take only a couple months before the alternative fuel was available from coast to coast.
"If you're buying a flex-fuel vehicle for the cheapest fuel, you can have the cheapest fuel," he said. "When gas is cheaper, you can use gas, and when E85 is cheaper, you can use that."
Even more dependent
One of the primary motivations for the build-out of ethanol is that it will ease the nation's dependence on oil from the Middle East and help the U.S. move away from sucking up nonrenewable resources. But there's a wrinkle in that logic.
Despite the difficulty of finding E85 pumps, the Big Three have built more than 5 million flex-fuel vehicles since the late 1990, with that number increasing by about 1 million this year, Consumer Reports forecast.
The government credits vehicles that can run on E85 with about two-thirds more fuel economy than they actually get using gasoline, even though they may never run on E85. For example, the two-wheel drive version of the Tahoe used in the study would normally be rated at 21 mpg. But because it can run on E85, it earns a 35 mpg credit.
That rule helps automakers build more gas-quaffing trucks than they otherwise would be allowed to do under Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules. The net effect, according to a study by the Union for Concerned Scientists, is that the annual gasoline consumption in the U.S. has risen by about 1%, or 1.2 billion gallons. Lamberty contends that some of the blame falls on the consumer.
"The automakers and the government aren't forcing people to keep buying these bigger vehicles in the face of rising gas prices," he said.
While General Motors and Ford build these to comply with the regulations, he said hopefully it means there will be enough a critical mass of vehicles so that it makes sense for petroleum marketers to spend money to build the pumps.
"It's the ultimate chicken and egg discussion," he said.
And this loss of mileage is a surprise because?
(snicker, snicker)
It burns diesel and rubber.
Yada...yada...yada
Ethanol ISN'T the answer to America's oil dependence/ addiction. It lowers an engine's efficiency and is more costly to produce than a ROI should be.
Drilling offshore, ANWR and every other oil-deposited field, IS, short-term. Electric, hydrogen, ethanol are just some of the 'feel-good', non-solutions to our oil addiction, promulgated by the automakers, who have trillions invested in our addiction.
Long-term solution? I don't know, and if I did have the answer, the automakers and oil companies would have me killed.
Wiping out the muslim-islamist-arabs and taking over the oil fields in the ME? Now that appeals to me, but it probably isn't very practical from a PR-historical standpoint.
(((sigh)))
And my tax dollars support ethanol production why, again?
Huh?
2004 Chevy Tahoe here - 15-16 mpg in mixed driving, 18 on highway (if I'm not trying to set any speed records).
I have yet to even FIND E85 fuel to try, but I want to. I have heard mixed results as far as fuel economy goes. All cases have been of reduced milage, but this Consumer Reports test is the most dramatic I have heard to date.
Your average American does not care where his money goes. If he did, we wouldn't buy everything from China to save a few bucks so that now it is very hard to find Made in USA. All people care about is the lowest price. They will buy Chinese knowing American factories will shut down.
So these folks think Americans would rather pay more than send money to Saudi Arabia so they can build terrorist mosques all over the world, including the US? Unless something major happens, they are dreaming.
In theory less heat means longer engine life. The logic stops when one takes into consideration that the same amount of energy is required to get from point A to point B,because alcohol contains less energy than gasoline.The engine lives longer it's just not as efficient.
I live in ethanol country, and I think the tax subsidies, government mandates, poorer fuel economy make it all a sham.
Ethanol might be economically better with a different crop, but trying to make corn ethanol competitive is well-intended, but dumb.
Perhaps diesel, already readily available, will be a better choice.
The local paper (very liberal) did some tests and verified the 2/3 gas mileage. So, you should probably get 1-12 mpg. I thought there was a govenment subsidy of 25 cents a gallon. If so, that takes the true cost to $3.16 per gallon on average which translates to $4.74 a gallon. Also, remember that a lot of Arabian oil was probably burned to produce that ethanol.
Of course, because Chevy did it half-assed. You can tune an engine to get a LOT more power out of ethanol than out of gasoline with a very high compression ratio and a different fuel-air mixture. Sure, slightly modify an engine so that it can take E85 and it will suck. Tune an engine to E85 and you get a lot more power for the same engine, which means you can use a smaller engine, levelling out the consumption equation.
Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that ethanol has 75,670 BTUs per gallon instead of 115,400 for gasoline, which means that you would have to burn more fuel to generate the same amount of energy.
First, power is different from energy. If you are saying you can get more energy per gallon from ethanol, that is not correct.
The long term solution is hydrogen or electric. Ethanol is a midrange palliative, but it is useful nonetheless. The price of ethanol spiked high this summer due to heavy demand as an oxygenate. There is now a shortage of the stuff, as well as transportation bottlenecks to get it to the east and west coasts. As production ramps up, however, the price of ethanol is expected to fall to the gasoline-equivalent level.
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