E85Forum.com

440Jim · Joined: 01 Jan 2008 Posts: 188

It seems to me that the growth in E85 has stopped. No new stations near me, price is almost the same as 87 unleaded gas in Maryland ($2.60 vs $2.70), and very few posts in this forum. On the web site http://e85prices.com/ almost nobody posts prices of E85 in Maryland.

I started using E85 in the fall of 2007 in my race car. That testing was favorable, so in 2008 I ran a converted carb on E85 and raced it all year. In 2009 I put a mechanical fuel injection system on the race car, and converted it from methanol (race alky) to E85 with great success. http://www.ronsfuel.com/
I still love it as a race fuel. It supports high compression ratios, runs cooler than gas, and is a lot cheaper than race fuel for 13-14 CR.

Is it growing in other parts of the country? I was hoping after 3 years there would be at least one E85 station near me and the price would be closer to what you see in the midwest (Iowa $1.79). I have been driving 60 miles each way to fill up a 55 gallon drum with E85 at the nearest station.

Drag Chevette · Joined: 18 Sep 2007 Posts: 458

Jim,
I can assure you that E85 has not stopped.

I talked with the national Ethanol people that promote the use of ethanol, and they only have so much money per year to work with.

they have been concentrating on most of the southern states, and once there then they will back fill the rest of the country.

south florida has gotten its first E85 station within the last few months..as well as southern lousianna.

look for a temendious growth of E85 in the near future.

the ultimate goal for the promotors is to have E85 at every station within a 8-10 year period..

they are adding 3000+ E85 pumps a year right now and it will nearly double or tripple within the next 10 years.

some farmers in the midwest are no longer needing government assistance because they are using 100% of their land to farm corn.
Corn that is being used for cattle feed and ethanol......

because of the ethanol production, watch for the price of beef to drop.....the surplus of cattle feed has caused the feed prices to drop and made cattle farming affordable as well.

and while E85 may NOT be the answer to our world fuel problems, it sure does allow me to race cheap and EAT STEAK when im done..... Very Happy

440Jim · Joined: 01 Jan 2008 Posts: 188

murphinator · Joined: 08 Jan 2010 Posts: 93

I have only dabbled with it myself to date because I have to drive 2 states away to get it....

but many of the forums I am on for the car platforms I own and efi tuning specific forums I have noticed an increase in interest and a change from people posting it will eat your fuel lines , it has less energy and makes less power etc.. to enough members posting positive results on the fuel that it is spreading and people are now asking how to convert vs. if they should convert

hopefully once there are many performance enthusiasts out there using it the rest will follow.

The new regal gs when it comes out will be the first boosted flex fuel vehicle to hit the market designed to make a lot more power when burning e85 not just to be capable of running e85. Hopefully a magazine or 2 will test with both e85 and gas so the general publics eyes get opened up to the power of the fuel.
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PB's 1/4 mi 12.209, 117.75 trap ,1/8 mi 7.76 ,93.99 trap , 1.949 short time 4.53 0-60

I tune with HP Tuners software

Regal Racer · Joined: 18 Feb 2010 Posts: 1

I recently had a 1050 Dominator converted by Mark. I had to go 65 miles to get E85 so I bought a 55 gal drum full. Reg unleaded was $2.35, premium was $2.45, and E85 was $2.49 at this station in SC. I thought E85 was supposed to be cheaper than reg unleaded.

Alcohol · Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 634 Location: Central Wisconsin

Yes Regal- it is cheaper when too many people and greed do not get in the middle. Here it is 1.999 at the low end and 2.299 at the highest. Wholesale ethanol at an ethanol plant is only fetching about 1.50 in the midwest and maybe 1.65 in the east, far south, and west coast. From that you would deduct $0.45 in blender credit and then add approx $0.54 in road taxes and local freight. Then add maybe 15 cents in station margin. Next take that times 85% and then add 15% of the local street price for gasoline and you can see what should be close to the street price for E85 summer blend.

We need more stations, more ethanol plants direct marketing the E85, and more E85 stations to drive the price down. We do not need major oil companies getting in the middle of this product to make it look bad.

440Jim-
PM me if you want to know how to encourage stations to handle it and how to connect up with better supply lines. A town of 30,000 is more than enough market if the stuff is priced correctly. As cars like the 2L turbo Buick Regal coming in the second 1/2 of 2011 model year (1/3 to 1/2 the added fuel consumption % of a normal FFV) more folks will consistently use it. The time is now!

Eric68 · Joined: 01 Nov 2007 Posts: 331

More stations here in Michigan -- seems a couple more pop up each year. And it seems that I have to fight and elbow my way into the E85 pump closest to my house -- the E85 is always being used at this station.

$2.29 a gal.

I would expect it to be different in various areas of the country. I'm sure E85 will take off in certain regions and stagnate in others.
_________________
E85 racer and E85 carb builder
www.horsepowerinnovations.com

E85 powered 68 Camaro street car
Best ET on motor 9.96 @ 133 MPH, 5.92 on N2O in the 1/8th

drmatera · Joined: 24 May 2008 Posts: 40 Location: Boca Raton, FL

Correction about Florida, we've had quite a few stations here in South Fl for a couple years now and we keep getting more. In the last 8-10 months 3 stations within 6 miles of me now have it (hell yeah!!!!) the closest being right up the street. Regular gas is in the $2.65-$2.79 range while E85 is around $2.39gal. More and more racers in this area are making the switch and there are tons of FFV's roaming the streets. A local dyno shop does about 3 E85 conversions (hot rods) a week and shows no sign of slowing down.
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1986 Porsche 911 Turbo - Corn Fed

E85 in South Florida
$2.49 per/gal

Alcohol · Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 634 Location: Central Wisconsin

Somebody needs to throw some E85 pumps in the west side of FL- from Tampa down to Alligator Alley. When I fly down and rent an FFV there is no where to fill on the Gulf side.

drmatera · Joined: 24 May 2008 Posts: 40 Location: Boca Raton, FL

GMRedline · Joined: 04 Aug 2009 Posts: 10

E85 stations are popping up all over North East WI.

Qwik Trip, one of our local stations, is growing like crazy in our area and every time the open a new store it has E85 pumps.

Although I buy my E85 from a different supplier its nice to know that option is out there.

Alcohol · Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 634 Location: Central Wisconsin

E drifto · Joined: 26 Mar 2010 Posts: 12

i like steak Very Happy

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1987 16v Scirocco w P1SC-1 Procharger
recurved cis-e jetronic - flex fuel knob on the dash

MarkB · Joined: 31 Aug 2010 Posts: 4

Looks like its stopped here in the UK Sad

I heard a rumour a while back about it being withdrawn from our petrol stations due to the government not subsidizing it anymore and when i went to my local filling station at the weekend the E85 pumps had been removed. And a couple phone calls to the fuel suppliers confirmed its not available anymore!

Does anybody know if the bioethanol used in bioethanol fires could be used, its pure ethanol so would need to be mixed with 15% petrol. Other than that i'm struggling to find anything.

drmatera · Joined: 24 May 2008 Posts: 40 Location: Boca Raton, FL

Mark - that's real unfortunate. Not sure if it will help you but I get this email newsletter

Growth Energy Market Development

fyilist@topica.email-publisher.com

Maybe they have an answer for you
_________________
1986 Porsche 911 Turbo - Corn Fed

E85 in South Florida
$2.49 per/gal