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"E85" at the local station is anything from 52 to 83% ethanol.
Doing the test drive to Tampa now!
Update:
E85 ($2.429/gal) with 62% alcohol indicated by scanner gets 20.5 mpg.
Normal 87 octane unleaded ($2.929/gal) is 26.5 mpg.
Ethanol Free 89 octane ($3.519) is 28.7.
With current prices, E85 and Ethanol free are 12 cents a mile.
Regular is 11 cents per mile.
With the factory tune, none of the fuel choices offers more power or acceleration.
How much less is it per gallon? Around here it is usually about $0.40/gal less than regular. In our Silverado with 5.3 that is flex fuel it usually gets at least 2-3 MPG less than 87 octane E10 regular gas. It is not really a cost savings usually. However, it does seem to make a little more power since E85 has a much higher effective octane rating. Some people use E85 where I drag race because with tuning they can make good power on it due to the effective 100-ish octane equivalent and it is much cheaper than even the 97 octane race fuel which is the cheapest dinosaur race gas they sell at the track (which is still significantly more expensive than 93 octane pump gas at local stations)..
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see what your results are.
-swj
See update.
DeleteMy question is, is E85 worth it if it still damages fuel systems that are 'designed' for it? Question from working in outboard motors in the 80's is the ability for alcohol-based or enhanced fuels to collect too much water from the air. And how long before E85 goes 'off' and turns to shellac?
ReplyDeleteI have noticed that comparable octane rating, non-alcohol gas seems to make my car run better than alcohol-mixed gas.