Does the ethonal fuel make my car get worse gas mileage?

Question

ok..so gas stations all over are adding ethanol to there gas...ok...seems like my gas mileage has gotten worse by about 2-5 mpg...thats a big difference??...i think its the added ethanol in the gas...jus wondering if anybody else thinks this...and if so...shouldnt they lower the gas prices cause they jus cut every car MPG down???....please comment

Answer 1

Yes, ethanol is just bad all around.

Technically ethanol is cheaper than gasoline.  However, it has a lower energy density, so you need 4 gallons of ethanol to go the same distance as 3 gallons of gasoline.

On top of that, recent studies have shown that ethanol actually creates more greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline.  Especially corn-based ethanol.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

I would suggest getting gasoline that doesn't contain ethanol.

Answer 2

Sure looks that way:

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/hot_...

"E85, a blended fuel consisting of 85-percent ethanol and 15-percent gasoline, has been championed (by GM in particular) as a viable and green solution to the petroleum problem. Unfortunately, both adjectives are a stretch. You could fill volumes with debate over the benefits and social, fiscal, and environmental costs of ethanol, at least the starch-derived strains, so we won’t.

What you need to know is that E85 reduces the fuel economy of any vehicle burning it by about 25 percent. For example, the grand-prize glugger of the full-size-truck segment, the Dodge Ram 1500, gets 12 mpg in the city and 16 on the highway. Fill ’er up with E85, and the fuel “economy” falls to 9/12. That’s right, a single-digit mpg number, something the average person only experiences in Uncle Dwayne’s RV or when renting a U-Haul truck. Or take the Dodge Avenger V-6, which gets a semi-respectable 19 city/27 highway. Pour in the corn juice, and watch mileage drop to an SUV-like 13/20.

Pres. George Bush recently announced a proposed mandate for 35 billion gallons of ethanol production by 2017, so you’ll probably see more vehicles so equipped, regardless. An upshot of an ethanol/alcohol future is that we tired journalists will have a whole new hamper of words and terms involving alcoholism and ethanol overindulgence to reach into."

In California our gas is switched to a higher ethanol mix in summer to reduce smog and related health issues.  By your logic, if price is tied to an outcome, shouldn't they charge us more for the health benefits included?  Or less since ethanol comes with an additional hidden carbon emission cost (that we'll eventually pay dearly for)?

Basically, neither the price nor the reasons for using ethanol bear any relationship to gas mileage performance.

Answer 3

Ethanol has less energy for the same volume of liquid than gasoline, but it isn't as big as 25%. If you are buying gasoline that has a small amount of ethanol you might notice a slight drop in fuel economy as a result. Some gasoline companies will add up to 10% alcohol and that is supposed to work fine in existing vehicles (some may agree or disagree). I am uncertain but I think that most states require that the use of ethanol be posted where it can be seen by the customer. I purchase gasoline at a local ***mart that contains 10% ethanol. My car works fine, but I lose a couple of miles per gallon as a result. (I drive a Prius, so that amounts to maybe a 3-4% drop). I do it for the enjoyment I get from doing a little bit to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. (Pathetic, I know, but I'm trying my best to do my part).

The real benefit of ethanol is for cars that can run the E85, that is 85% ethanol. If that were widely used it would put a dent in our dependence on foreign oil. I think that is the overall plan with large scale ethanol production. But even if we start with putting 10% in every gallon at every gas station. That is a huge amount of oil that was displaced.

Timothy D.

West Melbourne, FL

Answer 4

25% is a bit overboard. 5% is more like it.  I've heard newer cars can adjust to it but it takes a tank before the computer recalibrates itself to the fuel.   10% ethonal gas is 10 cents a gallon cheaper than regular unleaded gas in Iowa.