E85Forum.com

stylin99 · Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 85 Location: Charlotte, NC

Have you guys noticed in your areas whether the price of E85 is fluctuating with the price of gasoline? Recently our gas prices here in NC have gone from about 2.40/gal to 2.80/gal and I expected the E85 pricing to stay near the 2.40/gal price range. But the stations here are simply moving e85 to the same price as regular gas.

So at this rate, when is ethanol ever going to be cheaper than gasoline in the long run!!? I feel as if the stations are capitizing on the increase, and moving up the e85 rate to take the extra profits there. Mad

_________________
'99 Mustang GT, Vortech Supercharged, now running E85 full time.
www.e85mustangs.com

Best Quarter Mile on E85:
10.52 at 135 mph

BongoBennie · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 34 Location: vegas

Ive been running E85 for a bit now, and when I started it was a bit cheaper dollars per mile than running super unleaded, E85 has been right at 40 cents cheaper than 91. now that prices are back up, its more expensive to run E85 when you consider the cost per mile... sucks ass, If they keep it up, they will shoot themselves in the foot.

hotrod · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 872 Location: Colorado

regular gas is going for about $2.75 -$2.89 /gal depending on where you buy it, my E85 is now at $2.19 -$2.35/gal so we still have a price split.

I think it is simply that ethanol is a commodity in demand as gas prices go up, the refiners/blenders add ethanol to keep prices down if it is cheaper so that tends to drive ethanol prices up when gas gets too expensive.

We always have a gas price crunch this time of year, for Mothers day, easter, and Fathers day travel. Not to mention the refiners are switching over from fuel oil output to summer gasoline output so capacity is not up to full summer production levels yet.

That is why I have about 30 gallons of winter blend E85 in jerry cans right now that I bought at 1.99 - $2.19 /gal.

Larry

WR^2X · Joined: 14 Aug 2006 Posts: 29 Location: Geneva, IL

Fredster · Joined: 20 Nov 2006 Posts: 111

it's a good way to render unworthy the effort of actually producing ethanol based cars ... !

what fuel stations have ethanol in the states ?
we have sonic although it's only 5% ethanol ... can you actually purchase ethanol and mix it with 5% ethanol to produce 15% ethanol ?
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I guess Hubert Reeves thinks this is an important matter
Cost of Can. Gov. studies on global warming ? xx M$
Cost of industrial scientific studies for alternative energy sources ? x M$
Cost of a 100$ batch of distilled ethanol ?
Priceless

stonent · Joined: 03 Feb 2007 Posts: 17

You'd think that e85 would increase at a rate of .15 x the increase on gas but sadly it doesn't.

te51levin · Joined: 12 Sep 2006 Posts: 22 Location: PNW

When other fuel goes up, the cost of producing (I assume) and distributing E85 goes up, too. Having said that, E85 has remained steady at $2.70 since the only local biofuel station opened last year. For comparison, premium is around $3.60 in this area (Eugene, OR) right now.
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'85 AW11 7A-GE MSnS-E (11.3:1 daily driver, now on E85)
'77 TE51 2T-G (finally running again!)

Fredster · Joined: 20 Nov 2006 Posts: 111

BlackNGoldRules · Joined: 01 Aug 2006 Posts: 21 Location: Bethel Park, PA

In my area the price of 87 octane is about $2.89 and the cost of E85 is at $2.39 so I'm really benefiting from using it right now. When E85 was only about 20 cents cheaper here I didn't use it at all. But for some reason the gap got larger as the gas prices went up and up. E85 here didnt go up as fast as the gas for some reason.

Fredster · Joined: 20 Nov 2006 Posts: 111

stylin99 · Joined: 08 Sep 2006 Posts: 85 Location: Charlotte, NC

Bought E85 yesterday here.
2.79 E85
2.91 Regular gas
3.11 Premium

At least we have a .12c differential now, hoping it spreads further though.
_________________
'99 Mustang GT, Vortech Supercharged, now running E85 full time.
www.e85mustangs.com

Best Quarter Mile on E85:
10.52 at 135 mph

hotrod · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 872 Location: Colorado

I just found this link while doing some searching on the VEETC might be useful discussion information when the subject comes up. It appears the VEETC saves the Federal govenment over $6 billion dollars a year in farm support costs, and tax revenue from the ethanol producers more than zeros out the cost of the VEETC itself.

http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=printfriendly&id=5797

Larry

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

Thanks for the post Hotrod- I had not seen the updated #'s- this is a story that does not get told to the ave Joe- he only hears about the "huge subsidy ethanol gets" and of course "joe" never hears about oil depletion allowances or other tax credits that oil companies are able to take that dwarf VEETC.

hotrod · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 872 Location: Colorado

I wish I could find good current numbers for the total tax incentives and other related "special considerations" big oil receives.

It would be an eye opener to find an unbiased source like the congressional research office that had some comprehensive numbers on oil subsidies and tax breaks.

Larry

BongoBennie · Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 34 Location: vegas

Im getting very worried, not only is E85 cost rising faster that gasoline, but some stations are starting to drop it all together. I talked to a few station owners, they all say the same thing, the supplier is raising the rates to the point were the profit margine is less than the gasoline, I think the only reason the sell the stuff is because since its still a bit cheaper than the cheapest gas price in town, the have the lowest number on the sign, which draws customers who only look at the number. once the get to the pump, they find out that the number the saw wasn't for gas, but since there at the pump, they just go for the 87 at the normal price. I could be wrong, but its just a guess.