Trying something new my truck

[MarkT]

Surprised to hear E85 is so expensive in the east. In Vegas, E85 tends to cost about $0.50 per gallon less than regular gasoline.

One nice thing about ethanol is that, while there is less "energy" per gallon, the correct a/f ratio is much richer than gasoline so the net effect is more power. :thumbsup:

 

[The Tank]

Surprised to hear E85 is so expensive in the east. In Vegas, E85 tends to cost about $0.50 per gallon less than regular gasoline.

One nice thing about ethanol is that, while there is less "energy" per gallon, the correct a/f ratio is much richer than gasoline so the net effect is more power. :thumbsup:

I think availability has something to do with it. There are about 6 stations with E85 around here.

 

[frogslinger]

87 Octane=2.85/gallon not enough octane for my truck it will make my truck ping
93 Octane=3.20/gallon for whatever stupid reason it has been going up since about 2 weeks ago
E85(or maybe E70 because of the temperature)= 2.70/gallon and 105 octane it's a win/win aside from the part I have to go into Charlotte to get it.

Right except that E85 has about 80% of the energy content of E0, so you are paying 3.38 per gallon when you factor in gas mileage (assuming you could get E0)... it is more of a win/do not loose than a win win.

 

[frogslinger]

I'm an anti-corn guy. Corn = food. When it's used for other things the cost of corn goes way up hurting all of us because the cost of food stuffs (that depend on corn like farm animals) goes way up.

Ummm... no...

If one belives that food prices in the US hinge upon supply and demand then one either did not pay attention in economics class and do not understand supply and demand or have not given the problem much thought and are regurgitating a company line...

The single largest factor in US food prices is subsidies, which is why the retail price of food is lower in the US than anywhere else in the developed world. The problem is that this low on the shelf price reults in higher taxes accross the board so there is little net gain (proably a net loss if you make enough to afford a raptor)...

If you want to delve further you could argue that we are in two multi billion dollar wars that are esentially to help secure our medium term energy sources, and that if we had dumped that money into say cellulosic ethanol reaserch or biodeisel we would probably have a renewable source of domestic energy.

Or we can keep spending money to pay to replace dead soldiers (about $600,000 in death benefits + 100K to spool up the replacement if they are a non specialised troop), destroyed equipment (want me to quote the price on a HMMWV, an M1, an Apache or a B1-B)...

The Defense budget is between 1/4 and 1/5 of the national budget (not counting emergency expenditures... like those previously mentioned wars; they do not fall under the DoD budget). If we had a long term secure source of energy skirmishes in the middle east would receive as much attention as those in sub saharan africa, the department of defense could concentrate on defense as opposed to police work and offense, and could have a proportionatly smaller budget. Cutting the DoD and emergency spending would allow all kinds of benefits like no defecits with lower taxes, paying down the principal on the national debt, not borrowing money from china, strengthening of the US economy and free unicorns for every child... (ok no free unicorns)

But, we have no long term energy soloution... but hey, 99c burgers at BK!

 

[The Tank]

Right except that E85 has about 80% of the energy content of E0, so you are paying 3.38 per gallon when you factor in gas mileage (assuming you could get E0)... it is more of a win/do not loose than a win win.

E0 is very hard to find on the east cost and with the way my truck is tuned now I couldn't use it. I'm going to check the milage today.

 

[frogslinger]

I agree on the E0, cannot get it in the south west either, and do not remember seeing any on my last road trip to NY...

 

[FordFanStan]

Wow it sounds like none of you have been running E85 this whole time?? I'm really shocked.

Right except that E85 has about 80% of the energy content of E0, so you are paying 3.38 per gallon when you factor in gas mileage (assuming you could get E0)... it is more of a win/do not loose than a win win.

Exactly, I started running it about 6 months ago. I started purchasing it at THE ONLY station in all of San Diego county that sells it at the pump at that time for approximately ~$2.30/gal. I loved it. Cheaper, smoother, runs cooler, more power, environmentally cleaner, burns cleaner, etc. Only downside is the worse fuel mileage. On 87 I can get about ~320-340miles/tank and on the E85 I was getting about ~240-260miles/tank iirc. So it seemed worth it to me. Now the cost has risen, and it is actually the same cost as 87 to a few pennies more even (~$3.20/gal). Not so worth it even considering all the benefits for someone on a budget right now like myself due to the considerable amount of fuel mileage decrease . Hopefully the costs will come back down soon. FFS

 

[LandSeaAir]

I'm a fan. I run it in my 650hp Evolution X. On forced induction applications you can see anywhere from 50-100hp gains with support mods of course.