E85Forum.com

Activist · Joined: 15 May 2006 Posts: 22 Location: Mid West & South

The E-85 boom ready to hit Colorado
written by: Mark Koebrich 9NEWS Consumer Reporter
posted by: Jeffrey Wolf Web Producer

Created: 7/13/2006 6:52 PM MST - Updated: 8/2/2006 9:12 AM MST

KUSA - It's only $1.99-a-gallon, and thousands of drivers in Colorado can put it in their gas tanks although they don't even know it.

9NEWS Consumer Reporter Mark Koebrich says it's a big seller at the Silco station in Denver at Alameda and Broadway, being sold to people who drive "flex fuel vehicles."

They drive from all over the Front Range to get to that station because it's one of the only places in Colorado you can get E-85.

There are only a handful of E-85 pumps in the entire state.

"There are only 10, and nine of those are public and they're scattered around," said Drew Bolin of the Governor's Office of Energy and Conservation.

However, that will change soon. Colorado is on the front edge of an ethanol boom.

Distributors like Troy Hill of Hill Petroleum are installing new E-85 pumps, seeing the potential for sales.

"There's as much as an 80 to 90-cent-a gallon spread," he said.

Also, new ethanol plants, like the one that just went into production in Windsor, are springing up all over Colorado.

"Basically we take about 44,000 bushels of corn a day and turn it into about 120-to-30,000 gallons of alcohol a day," said Jeff Gilbert of Front Range Energy.

Gilbert is a supervisor at the new facility.

They make alcohol that is blended with gasoline, just 15 percent, to make E-85. They cannot make it fast enough.

"If we had the plant capacity we could sell 10 times what we're making right now," said Gilbert.

That's why entrepreneurs in Colorado are rushing to build more plants.

"There's about four that are either operating or under construction-- there's a number of more planned-- there could be 7-9 by 2010," said Drew Bolin of the governor's office.

There are already some 300,000 flex fuel cars in the state, comprising 6 percent of all such cars in the country, and General Motors and Ford plan to make millions more.

Curiously, some 40 percent of the people who currently drive them, people like Russel Poley, had no idea their cars will burn the new fuel.

"When I bought it, it had this symbol on the back. I had no idea what it was," said Poley. "It struck me, I looked at it and said wait, what is that? Well it's a highway sort of disappearing in the distance and a green leaf growing out."

Essentially, a logo for E-85 and other flex fuels. That led Poley to the sticker on his fuel flap, now on all flex fuel cars.

"It said use either ethanol or unleaded gasoline," said Poley.

That was just six weeks ago. He's owned the car since 2003.

However, Russel and thousands of others are glad they figured it out.

If you're wondering if you can convert your car to run on E-85, the answer is not yet, but perhaps soon.

Depending on what you drive, the conversion kits are coming. But you want to follow manufacturer recommendations so as not to void the warranty on your car.
Very Happy

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

Yep we already have a good demand base built if they would get some more pumping outlets available.

There are supposed to be several new stations coming on line over the next few months. The station listed in the news item is and has been the best place to buy from in the Metro area. He pumps about 50,000 gallons a month because he prices it properly. Other E85 outlets that over price it move only a few hundred gallons a month.

That station is a 20 mile one way drive for me, so to buy E85 I have to drive 40 miles round trip. There are two stations in the north metro area that are trying to get pumps on line, one to open next month in Arvada and another in Boulder that needs to get a new tank installed before it can complete the conversion.

Larry