tahoe07

It may not be priced at it's energy content but it's a good way to decide if it's a good deal to buy.
Zx i think you said you could expect about 2 MPG decrease with E85...

My current MPG is 16..... X 26 gallons = 416 miles
E85 would be 14 MPG....X 26 gallons = 364 miles

364/416 = 0.875 as efficient

My 87 octane is 2.75

0.875 X 2.75 = $2.41 so that's my break even price for E85

rs_mn

I'msure there are many influences for pricing E85, but if a vehicle gets less mileage with E85, it should be priced accordingly or it doesn't make economic sense for consumers to buy it. That's the point I'm trying to make.

The above post is correct, themileage with gas needs to be compared with E85mileage to determine what the break even price of E85 should be for your vehicle.

I'm considering filling up with it next time just to see what my mileage is with E85 so I can tell at what price it becomes a good valueto use inmy Tahoe. I'm getting about 14.5-15mpg with gas right now. (mostly city with some metro highway).If I get 12mpg with E85 then it should be priced at $2.23-$2.30 when gas is priced at $2.79 to be equal value.

ZX1100F1

You guys are 100% correct however I'm quite sure that the average consumer (who may consider E85) just does the simple math in their head (much like you do to determine if 144 hotdog buns is a better value at Costco then a package of 8 at the grocery store), then there's those tree-hugger types that burn E85 to save the world no matter the cost.

I live nearby the only E85 station in the city in which I live; E85 is usually .30 -.50 cents more than regular here, I drive by the station several times a day and almost never see a vehicle at the E85 pump.


Fore those who may consider running E85 you might want to actually compare a few tanks of E85 to Regular in your vehicle and determine just exactly what the difference in fuel economy is in your car with your driving habits and then do the math, some may get 20% worse MPG while others may get 20% better.

rs_mn

Has anyone here run E85 for long periods of time? Any issues? Any benefits?

jrocha3

Right now E85 is more expensive, the station count is 1300 which is rising every year.As ofnow E85 gets about 30 percent of traditional gasoline in mileage, and the energy loss from producing the ethanol is high. Cellulosic ethanol is more efficient then corn but is under produced, but once technology increases so will the production. As far as corn ethanol goes, we can only use surplus for the year, Because as our friends from Missouri were sayingthis put stress onthose who need it.The big advantage right now in using E85 is we lessen are dependency on foreign energy. So you got a Tahoe that get 12 miles per gallon, in terms of gasoline your getting over 50 miles per gallon. This is big it isalways better to be self-reliant then to depend on others. Over time E85 pumps will go up along with the cars that can run on it. So gasoline will be used less and less. Thus bring down the price of E85 and up the price of gasoline, that’s simple economics. E85 may be a short term cure for American reliance on foreign energy, but no matter what gasolinehas to replaced.

73shark

I don't understand this statement.[sm=dontgetit.gif]

engine2

that makes 2 of us

ZX1100F1

It's typically the diesel guys making over exaggerated fuel economy claims but this one so far to date takes the cake hands down.
Must have bought one of them super-duper carburetors back in the 70's, you know the ones that guy made in his garage that the big auto makers and oil companies bought the rights to and destroyed the tooling and plans.

Had one Dodge/Cummins guy swear that he was getting 30+ mpg on his dually at one event.

rs_mn

I think that depends on where you are at. The pump price of E85 is always cheaper than gas here.

Actually, that is backwards. E85 gets about 70% of traditional gas mileage - but individual vehicles and driving habits will vary some.

I'm not sure what this means. Gas content? (15% ) or CAFE E85 credit (Tahoe's are currently rated at 30 mpg for E85 corporate CAFE calculations. ~1.2 mpg credit.)

Ethanol production in the US is in its infancy. There's a company here that is proposing to start building an ethanol plant that makes it from switch grass - even though the technology for using it isn't 100% ready yet. Companies are also discussing making it from sugar beets too. The one thing ethanol does is make use of the vehicles and gas stations we already have - which never seems to be considered in many environmental calculations or arguements, because that will take a lot of energy and resources to replace. With investment and subsidies driving ethanol production and research now, so it will just be a matter of years before we know if it's worth it to pursue on a large scale and longer term basis or if it's just a stop gap measure until a better idea can be realized.

Actually, I'd like to see a diesel Tahoe soon that burns biodiesel or a percentage of it. That would get better mpg than any gas/ethanol motor and would seem to be a more efficient solution.

jrocha3

E85 stretches a barrel of gasoline further then using just Regular (approx. 87octane), meaning you use less gasoline but in terms of the big picture the gasoline is going further. We as Americans are stretching our gasoline thus lessening our dependence foreign energy. You have to look at the sentence in terms of the rest of my message, and the big picture.