Do we buy ethanol (in Minnesota) because we have to?

My car doesn't take E85 but if it did, I'd probably go that right. Price is not the bottom line but it does matter especially if there's a great difference.

Just this morning I noticed that a station I often go to now has E85 so it must be available all over the state.

I'd get the cheapest. As E -10 would work just fine and the milage wouldn't be any different at all.

I also don't want to use E-85 in my car at all.

I "heard" (don't know cause I don't use) that E-85 doesn't get as good gas milage, so the people I have spoke with say they spend about the same in the end as people using other blends.

I have looked in my owners manual and put in the recommended gas. If I don't do what is best for my vehicle, it will cost more in repairs and possible shorten the life of my vehicle and end up costing more...

If you ask me, there is no winning answer to the gas situation other then walking!

"Price is not the bottom line but it does matter especially if there's a great difference." - Diana I think you may represent a lot of people, Diana. Isn't it shocking how even the cost between octanes can deviate?

Richard, can you elaborate on why you wouldn't want to use E-85? Is it that you don't have a flex-fuel engine or is there another reason, like horsepower?

Sorry, Sara, we were commenting at the same time. What does your owner's manual suggest? I know some manufacturers go right for the premium oct. so I'm curious...

Would a vehicle manual recommend the E85? I don't even know if I could use it. I have a 2004 Chevy Aveo.
Although I live in Texas, but we are trying to move back to Minnesota.

Hi Priscilla!

To my knowledge Chevy's 2004 line - except for select trucks - wasn't flex-fuel ready. But hey, move back here anyway!

E-85 won'twork at all in my car Julia

Certain times of the year here you have to buy a blend, I think it's 15% E85 ethanol. I'm not positive, but I think it is a county thing not a state requirement in order to reduce smog/pollution emissions.
I also have read articles that ethanol lowers the gas milage a vehicle gets, as well as potentially harming the ozone layer. Good one way, bad another; seems there is no completely right thing to do so to speak.

Won't work in my family's vehicles, either, Richard. Oh maybe in a pinch, and then... bleh. Can't imagine the damage to the components.

John, you've hit on the give and take. Good on one hand, bum on the other... You're in Arizona? How stable are gas prices there?

Well, not sure what stable means exactly, but the last time I got gas I think I paid about $2.70+ a gallon (regular unleaded). I think it was somewhat higher a few months ago, but I honestly don't buy gas that often or drive that much anymore to stay in touch. I'm at home most of the time with disabilities.
I do know that most of the gas we get comes from Texas by pipeline, and some from California. Every time something happens there we are affected while they patch pipes or fix refineries etc.; driving the price up more for a while besides the normal rip-off, ha ha.

An interesting question: if one is not buying E10 then what exactly are they buying? The reason for blending 10% Ethanol with gasoline is to comply with federal clearn air requirements. Ethanol is an oxygenator, and octane booster, if it is not in a gallon of gasoline, what is?

...Typically, the gas with ethanol is cheaper because it's subsidized. So which do you pick?

This is not an accurate statement.

It should not be a shock to realize that subsidized Ethanol is cheaper than unsubsidized Ethanol, but E10 is still cheaper than gasoline with other additives because Ethanol is cheaper than gasoline to produce.

While it is true that Ethanol is subsidized, the subsidy does not account for the difference in price between a gallon of Ethanol and gasoline. Producers in Minnesota sell Ethanol for somewhere between $1.30 and $1.60 a gallon which computes out to less than $65/barrel. Oil sells for close to $100/barrel.

There are two subsidies for Ethanol, one is the corn subsidy, averaging less than 30 cents per gallon, and the other is a blender tax credit of 50 cents per gallon of Ethanol.

For a gallon of E10 that computes to a 3 cent corn subsidy and a 5 cent blender credit.

Take away the subsidies and Minnesota can still produce a barrel of Ethanol cheaper than the Saudi's are willing to sell a barrel of oil.

Sara is correct, a vehicle using E85 gets less miles per gallon than it would with E10. This leads some people to assume that a vehicle using E10 would not go as far on a gallon as a vehicle using 100% gasoline.

The reasoning is follows the scientific fact that gasoline contains more energy per volume than Ethanol.

While this is true in the labratory, it is not true on the road. A vehicle running 100% gasoline get less miles per gallon than the same vehicle running E10. The reason is that gasoline needs additives to burn optimally in a combustion engine. It literally needs additives to slow down the explosion and feed oxygen to the combustion process. In the past things like lead were added to gasoline to do this, but lead was found to pollute the environment.

E10 causes a motor to run cleaner, and to produce more power. There is a point of diminishing returns where adding Ethanol to gasoline produces poorer mileage. With each motor it is slightly different.

shiller --> I don't buy it. Consumer reports did in vehicle test of ethanol last year and the actual gas mileage was more or less the same difference as the BTUs.


http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/new-cars/ethanol-10-06/overview/1006_ethanol_ov1_1.htm


The way I'd put it is this, if you want the Oglala aquifer to disappear, keep using ethanol.

Hi
Type Ethanol into your search engine and learn all about it. It can not be used in just any vehicle and in some places it is more expensive than gas.