News Letter

Ethanol Vehicles

Lincoln Town Car   Tahoe Ford Expedition	Flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) are designed to run on gasoline or a blend of up to 85% ethanol (E85). Except for a few engine and fuel system modifications, they are identical to gasoline-only models. FFVs experience no loss in performance when operating on E85. However, since ethanol contains less energy per volume than gasoline, FFVs typically get about 25-30% fewer miles per gallon when fueled with E85. FFVs have been produced since the 1980s, and dozens of models are currently available. Since FFVs look just like gasoline-only models, you may be driving an FFV and not even know it. Ethanol is a clean, renewable fuel. It is helping to reduce our nation's dependence on oil and offers a variety of economic and environmental benefits. Today, on a life cycle basis, ethanol produced from corn results in about a 20 percent reduction in GHG emissions relative to gasoline. With improved efficiency and use of renewable energy, this reduction could be as much as 52 percent. In the future, ethanol produced from cellulose has the potential to cut life cycle GHG emissions by up to 86 percent relative to gasoline. Ethanol blended fuels currently in the market – whether E10 or E85 – meet stringent tailpipe emission standards. Ethanol readily biodegrades without harm to the environment, and is a safe, high-performance replacement for fuel additives such as MTBE. Ethanol-blended fuel keeps your fuel system clean for optimal performance because it does not leave gummy deposits. The use of leaded-gasoline generally resulted in greater deposits throughout the fuel system. When cleaner gasoline with ethanol and detergents replaced leaded-gasoline beginning in the mid-1980s, there were some initial problems with plugged fuel filters as deposits were flushed from the fuel system. Today, all gasolines sold in the U.S. include detergents designed to keep fuel systems clean. Ethanol helps prevent wintertime problems by acting as a gas-line antifreeze. Therefore, if you live in a cold weather climate, you don't need to buy over-the-counter additives such as de-icers to prevent water, which collects in your fuel system, from freezing in your gas-line if you use ethanol. Ethanol-blended fuels are approved under the warranties of all auto manufacturers marketing vehicles in the U.S. Some even recommend ethanol use for its clean burning benefits. When ethanol was first introduced in the early 1980s, some cars experienced deterioration of some elastomers (rubber-like parts) and metal in fuel system components. Very quickly manufacturers upgraded these fuel system components so that today they are all compatible with ethanol fuels. All mainstream manufacturers of power equipment, motorcycles, snowmobiles and outboard motors permit the use of ethanol blends in their products.