[Fot] gasoline comparison

[robert bownes]

whups/ Another try.

Well the view from my side of the tracks is a bit different, yet agrees with
most of you.

I have a 2006 Chevy truck. It is an E85 Flex Fuel vehicle designed to run on
85% ethanol. The simple facts as I have discovered them:

   Yes, the mileage goes down. By about 20% in average driving.

   Yes the fuel costs less. About a third when I filled up today. The fuel
price is a lot less volatile too. It hasn't changed more than about 5 cents
in the last month.

  Net/net it's a gain for me.

The downside is I cannot use it while towing. The mileage goes WAY down.
like to about 50% of what it is on gas w 10% ethanol.



On Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 9:50 PM, robert bownes <bownes at seiri.com> wrote:

>
> Well the view from my side of the tracks is a bit different, yet agrees
> with most of you.
>
> I have a 2006 Chevy truck. It is an E85 Flex Fuel vehicle designed to run
> on 85% ethanol. The simple facts as I have discovered them:
>
>
> 2008/9/14 Tim Murphy <timmurph at fastbytes.com>
>
>  As I recall from another article, the ethanol is mixed at the
>> distributors, more or less at the end of the pipeline.  I think it had
>> something to do with the ethanol not being good in the pipeline.  Plus, I
>> think most of the ethanol plants are near the corn (upper midwest and great
>> plains states) and it wouldn't seem to make sense to ship it to the refiners
>> and then back north and east.  It has been a pretty large expense for the
>> distributors to store and mix the ethanol as I understand.
>>
>> Tim
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>  *From:* Bill Babcock <Billb at bnj.com>
>> *To:* Tim Murphy <timmurph at fastbytes.com>
>> *Cc:* britbits at netzero.com ; fot at autox.team.net
>> *Sent:* Sunday, September 14, 2008 11:24 AM
>> *Subject:* Re: [Fot] gasoline comparison
>>
>> And there's an ethanol shortage, that won't go away for a long time.
>>  On Sep 14, 2008, at 8:14 AM, Tim Murphy wrote:
>>
>>  As of September 1, 2008 all gasoline must have 10% ethanol by Federal
>> mandate.  So I was told by a Mobil distributor.  As always, a really well
>> thought out Federal mandate.  At the same time they raise the CAFE
>> standards
>> they lower the MPG by mandating ethanol.  There was also a bill in
>> Congress
>> to increase the mandated percentage of ethanol.  Guess which lobbying
>> group
>> was pushing that bill?
>>
>> Tim
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Jim" <britbits at netzero.com>
>> To: <fot at autox.team.net>
>> Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2008 10:08 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Fot] gasoline comparison
>>
>>
>> When MBTE was first proposed as an additive the local Triumph club
>>
>> president
>>
>> did a bit of investigation.. according to what he'd come up with the MBTE
>>
>> mix was designed for catalyst equipped cars... for non-catalyst equipped
>>
>> cars (the bulk of the Triumphs) the incompletely burned emissions were
>>
>> actually worse for the environment.
>>
>>
>> Just another example of poorly researched "science" being foisted on the
>>
>> American public.  Don't get me started on the R-12 vs R-134 bs.
>>
>>
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>>
>> Jim
>>
>> Dallas
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>>
>> From: fot-bounces at autox.team.net [mailto:fot-bounces at autox.team.net<fot-bounces at autox.team.net>]
>> On
>>
>> Behalf Of Randall
>>
>> Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2008 10:02 PM
>>
>> To: fot at autox.team.net
>>
>> Subject: Re: [Fot] gasoline comparison
>>
>>
>>
>>  Helps the emissions (as the MTBE was supposed to do also!).
>>
>>
>> Don't kid yourself.  For anything made in the last 20 years or so, it does
>>
>> absolutely nothing for emissions, as the computer just tweaks the mixture
>>
>> richer to compensate for the "oxygenated" fuel.
>>
>>
>> For most cars made before 1970 or so, it does make them run leaner, which
>>
>> does reduce tailpipe emissions.
>>
>>
>> But that leaves an awful lot of cars in between with fixed mixtures that
>>
>> were already tuned lean running on pure gasoline.  And it only takes one
>>
>> of
>>
>> them pushed into lean misfire under cruise conditions, to emit more
>>
>> pollution than the oxygenate could reduce in hundreds of pre-computer
>>
>> cars.
>>
>> Of course eventually they'll burn up the valves and so on, but you'd be
>>
>> surprised at the number of them still running around here.  And remember,
>>
>> these are the only cars where oxygenated fuel is supposed to reduce
>>
>> emissions at all.
>>
>>
>> And of course for Triumphs, we just adjust the mixture to suit the fuel,
>>
>> so
>>
>> it does no good at all.
>>
>>
>> Randall in the PRC (People's Republic of California)
>>
>>
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>>
>>   Bill Babcock
>>   Babcock & Jenkins
>> Billb at bnj.com
>> 503.936.7660
>> www.bnj.com
>>
>>  Editor
>> Ke Nalu e-Magazine
>> *Paddlesurfing's Web Journal*
>> *
>> *
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>>
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