I am watching a show on the Science Channel called "Futurecar". I have a question about ethanol vehicles.

Question

This show says you can convert your car to take E85 fuel (85% Ethanol) for around $100. How? Where can I get this done? And last if I dont have an E85 station anywhere close can I still use regular gasoline?

Answer 1

Yes a flex-fuel car (which is capable of using ethanol blends) can also run on pure gasoline.

You should give this a lot of consideration before making the conversion though.  Ethanol doesn't benefit anybody except corn farmers.  It costs a bit less per gallon than gasoline, but ethanol also has a lower energy density, meaning you have to buy 4 gallons of E85 to go the same distance as 3 gallons of pure gasoline, so in the end it costs you more.

Plus studies have shown that because the increased demand for ethanol would cause forestland to be cut down to grow corn, it actually contributes more to global warming than gasoline.

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

And ethanol also drives up the price of the food crops since we're also using them for fuel.

So basically everybody loses except the corn farmers, who are making some good money off the increased demand for corn.

Answer 2

I believe you can only convert your car to 15% - 25% percent ethanol.

Answer 3

i doubt u can change all the fuel system parts for less than 500 dollars..the e 85 eats up rubber and non stainless steel parts...  100 is money in pocket of rip off artists.

Answer 4

My brother-in-law purchased a Chevy pickup that's ran on E85 and regular gas.  His son had the pickup in Salt Lake City on a job and decided to fill it with E85.  He found that there was only one station in Salt Lake City and one in Ogden.  We filled it up at the Ogden station, the cost was a few cents cheaper than regular gasoline.  A couple days later he called me and told he would never use E85 again.  He saw a major drop in fuel economy.

Answer 5

they sell them online but they're not $100 :) just google "e85 conversion kit" btw corn based ethanol still uses a gallon of crude oil for every gallon of e85. whereas, sugar cane ethanol is oil free (100% renewable). so why do we use corn? wait 5 years for the fuel cell car. oh and yes to the last part, the vehicle will be considered "flex fuel" and will burn almost anything combustible. similar to military vehicles