E85

[Ozwynn]

Doesn’t anybody actually use E85? My Jeep is flex fuel and I tried it for a month. I dropped from an average of 19mpg to 14.5mpg and only saved 30 cents a gallon so overall it was not worth it… but does anybody actually use it? What do you use it for?

 

[franklin2]

I have never used it. Besides what you found out, I read that it has a bad habit of separating out in the tank if you don't use it. Turns into alcohol and something that resembles gasoline.

I have seen racing guys use it. They can run higher compression because it has a higher octane. But they have to set their engines up to use it.

 

[stmitch]

It's an excellent fuel system cleaner.
The Flex Fuel rangers were actually rated for a bit more hp and tq while running it.
The higher octane prevents knock/pinging
It burns cooler than gasoline
It has a lower carbon footprint than gas
For high performance or boosted applications, it can make a lot of financial sense compared to the price of Premium. You can get higher octane, better cleaning, for $0.60/gal less or more. Turbo/supercharger guys love it here in the corn belt.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I have been using it regularly in my F-150 this summer, mileage takes a ding but still cheaper overall than regular gas.

 

[racsan]

My dad tried it in his jeep grand cherokee, said its only “worth it” if E-85 was a certian price lower than normal gas. (I forget how much) Ive tried it in the escape, power felt the same but it does indeed get less mpg on E85.

 

[Blmpkn]

I've been considering running it in my racecar, whenever that damn thing gets finished. Race gas power without the 12$ a gallon price tag.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

My dad tried it in his jeep grand cherokee, said its only “worth it” if E-85 was a certian price lower than normal gas. (I forget how much) Ive tried it in the escape, power felt the same but it does indeed get less mpg on E85.

When it was $2.99 regular had to be above like $3.50.

 

[franklin2]

It has a lower carbon footprint than gas

There have been some studies on this to the contrary. By the time you factor in all the fuel needed to make ethanol fuel, it doesn't end up being a positive for the environment. Here's one of many links on it.

 

[RonD]

E85 is definitely cleaner burning and keeps fuel system cleaner over all
If you have a Flex fuel vehicle you should run at least two or three tank fulls a year to clean up the gasoline carbon build up

ICE fuels have different Energy potential per gallon
Gasoline is 116,090 BTU/gal
E85 is 88,258 BTU/gal

So you can release same energy with less gasoline, this means gasoline will always have better MPG, if thats the goal
Air/fuel ratio for gasoline is 14.7/1
E85 is 9.7/1, so you have to add more E85 every RPM which is why the lower MPG

E85 worst case will lower MPG by 25%, but 20% is usual, so that would be the price point for the difference in price per gallon
If gasoline was $4/gal then 20% break even would be $3.20 for E85, $0.80 less per gallon
So its an ever changing number as to which is cheaper for MPG at this point

E85 should be 85% ethanol........................but in the US and Canada its actually closer to 70%, lol

Diesel is 128,488 BTU/gal, which is why diesels get even better MPG than gasoline

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

There have been some studies on this to the contrary. By the time you factor in all the fuel needed to make ethanol fuel, it doesn't end up being a positive for the environment. Here's one of many links on it.

It's one of those things that you can find whatever you want to find.

E85 is definitely cleaner burning and keeps fuel system cleaner over all
If you have a Flex fuel vehicle you should run at least two or three tank fulls a year to clean up the gasoline carbon build up

ICE fuels have different Energy potential per gallon
Gasoline is 116,090 BTU/gal
E85 is 88,258 BTU/gal

So you can release same energy with less gasoline, this means gasoline will always have better MPG, if thats the goal
Air/fuel ratio for gasoline is 14.7/1
E85 is 9.7/1, so you have to add more E85 every RPM which is why the lower MPG

E85 worst case will lower MPG by 25%, but 20% is usual, so that would be the price point for the difference in price per gallon
If gasoline was $4/gal then 20% break even would be $3.20 for E85, $0.80 less per gallon
So its an ever changing number as to which is cheaper for MPG at this point

E85 should be 85% ethanol........................but in the US and Canada its actually closer to 70%, lol

Diesel is 128,488 BTU/gal, which is why diesels get even better MPG than gasoline

Yeah, E85 is up to 85%.

 

[Roert42]

The only people I know that run E85 have a go fast car. Cheaper to run E85 in your twin turbo Beemer then 110.

 

[sgtsandman]

If ethanol wasn't subsidized, fuel with ethanol would be more expensive than it is. The gasahol concept looks great on paper but isn't as great in practice for various reasons. There are also better plant sources to make ethanol than corn but corn has been the chosen source. If we could grow our fuel and not impact the food supply, that would be fantastic but it seems that only food makes a good resource for it. So, it's limited by the amount of land available and what can be spared from the food supply.

With the needing to burn more of it to get the same result, I'm wondering if it helps reduce emissions by a significant amount or if it's a zero sum game. If zero sum, we can't make enough of it, we need to burn more of it than gasoline, and it's more expensive, what are we gaining. Even subsidized, we are paying for it with our tax dollars. We just aren't seeing the bill directly.

 

[ZMan]

I've been considering running it in my racecar, whenever that damn thing gets finished. Race gas power without the 12$ a gallon price tag.

An old coworker of mine converted his '68 Roadrunner race car to E85 11 or 12 years ago, from race gas. He already had a plastic fuel cell, he just bought a new carb set up for it on Ebay.

 

[ZMan]

My dad tried it in his jeep grand cherokee, said its only “worth it” if E-85 was a certian price lower than normal gas. (I forget how much) Ive tried it in the escape, power felt the same but it does indeed get less mpg on E85.

I ran unleaded88 (e15) in my f150 for a few tanks when Sheetz was running the 3.99 promotion earlier in the summer. With the mileage loss it was marginally more cost effective, only because it was $0.80 cheaper. With the normal price of only $0.30 cheaper it's not worth it.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

If ethanol wasn't subsidized, fuel with ethanol would be more expensive than it is. The gasahol concept looks great on paper but isn't as great in practice for various reasons. There are also better plant sources to make ethanol than corn but corn has been the chosen source. If we could grow our fuel and not impact the food supply, that would be fantastic but it seems that only food makes a good resource for it. So, it's limited by the amount of land available and what can be spared from the food supply.

With the needing to burn more of it to get the same result, I'm wondering if it helps reduce emissions by a significant amount or if it's a zero sum game. If zero sum, we can't make enough of it, we need to burn more of it than gasoline, and it's more expensive, what are we gaining. Even subsidized, we are paying for it with our tax dollars. We just aren't seeing the bill directly.

Ethonal isn't really using food, the US produces way more corn than it needs for food production which is why it was nearly worthless before Ethonal came to be.

My 16 gets about the same mileage on E85 that my 02 did on E10. My 35 gal tank cost about the same to fill as my old 22gal tank... so overall operating expense is about a wash.