E85 MPG question

XxSlowpokexX

XxSlowpokexX

Registered User
Has anyone been tracking their MPG for e85 highway driving? Im figuring a 20% or so difference but what have people been seeing? Mostly highway driving..Planning a road trip:O)
 
more like 25% loss.

XxSlowpokexX said:
Has anyone been tracking their MPG for e85 highway driving? Im figuring a 20% or so difference but what have people been seeing? Mostly highway driving..Planning a road trip:O)
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Most people that I have talked with and from what I tried it looks more like a 24% loss in fuel mileage... Thats great if you can buy it for that much less, but around here it is only about $ 0.15 less..
Now just think about this for a moment......we take corn out of peoples food supply and give them gas that gets less mileage.....only in America.....Rich
 
pro street rich said:
Most people that I have talked with and from what I tried it looks more like a 24% loss in fuel mileage... Thats great if you can buy it for that much less, but around here it is only about $ 0.15 less..
Now just think about this for a moment......we take corn out of peoples food supply and give them gas that gets less mileage.....only in America.....Rich
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I'd ramp it up but it would just get pulled.

Well said.

Paul
 
The energy content difference is pretty consistent so the losses in MPG are also there. Now that assumes the same car.

On mine I went up 1.5 points in compression between gas and E85, plus I was able to tune it a tad lean during cruise, which gave me more like 14% loss overall on steady state cruise. Of course that assumed I never put my foot down, which never happened.

I managed a good 18-19mpg on my 400+ horsepower car driving 180 miles to Iowa on E85.
 
Well when compared to race gas its MUCH cheaper. Regardless of fuel consumption.

As far as food. Yes farmers switching to yellow corn production from white has had a huge impact on the price of tortillas! And my dam corn flakes have gone up tremendously in price as well.

Will corn based e85 be able to replace fossil fuel. Never. However keep in mind gas as we know it was merely a by product of refining oil which we found a use for. Ethanol at one time was the fuel of choice. Now other countries currently use other plants such as beets and sugar cane for ethanol production. Today e85 is also being made from grass and other plant based waste. I think that may be the trend. So in the future I see less edible corn and more waste being used. We use corn now because its relatively cheap to grow and abundant in the US. And i can pass on the tortillas and corn flakes
 
Oh I think its awfull as well thinking it would be the fuel of the future. But all e85 is an alchohol which is made by fermentation. We create PLENTY of organic waste/garbage in this country that e85 or even e100 can be produced from. That will be the trend.

Now I was reading up on people using ethanol in thier alky injection kits....Has anyone tried this?
 
I was getting 16MPG with all my mods on gas and I haven't seen a big difference since changing to e-85. Didn't give it too much thought. Maybe I'll write down my mileage on the next fill-up and get a better idea. With the minimal savings at the pump and loss of MPG, it might be close to a wash.

Its nice being able to fill-up with either gas, I do like that.

I think in conclusion there isn't much benefit.
 
Not trying to go political but if food/supply is the concern first realize most corn grown is Dent Corn and not edible by humans, remove the price fixing the government has on the agriculture market and stop feed cows corn--a food they can't/don't naturally eat.

Anyway yes E-85 in engine designed to run on 87 octane is stupid.
 
I think Damon is asking because he is planning a long trip in a turbocharged SC. Can it be the teal goose is coming home to roost???? :eek:
 
XR7 Dave said:
I think Damon is asking because he is planning a long trip in a turbocharged SC. Can it be the teal goose is coming home to roost???? :eek:
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Yes....But Im planing this years summer trips. I found some good apps on my iphone that track e85 station along trip routes. I figure if the car cant make a good road trip its useless. We will see. But it appears certain trips I want to make dont have an e85 station for some time without going way out of my way. Guess thats what 5 gallon gas containers are for.

And with e85 being a wash from a $ standpoint it sure isnt when compared to race gas.
 
I loose approximately 9% with my flex fuel Fusion. That is on top of gas because there are few E85 stations in my neck of the woods. The only one I hit is the one on the turnpike near Allentown. I would say with the 3.0L you save just a little bit.
 
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