Nitewulf
New member
I have been seeing my gas mileage decline, and had been trying to figure out why. I came across an article written in 2008 and this is a excerpt from it.
In a liter-to-liter comparison, E85 has 33% less energy content than "pure" gasoline (and 30% less than the E10 gasohol blend that is sold by almost all retailers
in the US). [2] Depending on the vehicle, this can result in a notable reduction in fuel economy and means that while E85 is cheaper than gasoline per gallon, per mile it may be more expensive. Additionally, due to chemical differences between E85 and gasoline, fuel systems and engines not designed or modified to use E85 suffer increased wear and may fail prematurely. Moreover, some of the environmental and social benefits of ethanol, and therefore E85, are highly dependent on raw materials used to produce the fuel. Production of ethanol from corn drives up world food prices and may not reduce carbon emissions, due to the petroleum and natural gas used in raising corn and refining it into ethanol. Ethanol produced from waste materials or fast growing non-food crops such as switchgrass is much more beneficial, but not yet economically practical at large scale.
In a liter-to-liter comparison, E85 has 33% less energy content than "pure" gasoline (and 30% less than the E10 gasohol blend that is sold by almost all retailers
in the US). [2] Depending on the vehicle, this can result in a notable reduction in fuel economy and means that while E85 is cheaper than gasoline per gallon, per mile it may be more expensive. Additionally, due to chemical differences between E85 and gasoline, fuel systems and engines not designed or modified to use E85 suffer increased wear and may fail prematurely. Moreover, some of the environmental and social benefits of ethanol, and therefore E85, are highly dependent on raw materials used to produce the fuel. Production of ethanol from corn drives up world food prices and may not reduce carbon emissions, due to the petroleum and natural gas used in raising corn and refining it into ethanol. Ethanol produced from waste materials or fast growing non-food crops such as switchgrass is much more beneficial, but not yet economically practical at large scale.
