Today I filled up my parents 09' HHR, which is an E85 Flex Fuel vehicle. About $2.30 a gallon for E85 and $2.60 for 87 octane. What gives? I thought this stuff was supposed to come down in price. It's been like 30 cents cheaper than 87 for the last couple years now. Is the demand not there? Production slow? Or are people just waiting for the electric car revolution?
E85: Is the price ever going to go down?
- Thread starter d0n_3d
- Start date
novaderrik
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 12, 2004
the price of ethanol really can't really go up and down the way gasoline does.
That's unfortunate, since you take at least a 30% hit on fuel mileage using that stuff, you sure aren't gaining a 30% advantage in price to make up for the loss in mileage.
supply and demand. where i live, when gas was 4.00+ a gallon, people were putting e85 in anything and everything, it was the first pump to run dry. ever since it has been just a few cents cheaper than 87. before that happened, i was getting it for 1.00 / gallon.
This is the first time I put a tank of E85 in the HHR. I just wanted to see how it responded. I noticed there is a slight delay in acceleration than before, but otherwise runs fine. I'm getting about half the MPG than with 87. If the stuff was like a dollar a gallon, I would run it all the time. But it being just a little cheaper than 87 makes NO sense. Now running it in my GN is a different story! Since we don't drive our Buicks for MPG, E85 is like running cheap race gas all the time
novaderrik
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 12, 2004
E85 can get good mileage, but the engines really should be built for it.
there is less potential chemical energy in ethanol than there is in gasoline, but if you squeeze it hard enough, you can get more of that energy out of it.
there is less potential chemical energy in ethanol than there is in gasoline, but if you squeeze it hard enough, you can get more of that energy out of it.
The price will come down if they ever stop using ethanol to oxygenate gasoline.
Most of the ethanol consumed in this country is in gasoline with 10% ethanol.
If someone wanted people to have cheap E85 the first thing they need to do is ban the use of it in gasoline (i.e. 10%)
The market would then be flooded with ethanol and the price would drop a ridiculous amount.
Most of the ethanol consumed in this country is in gasoline with 10% ethanol.
If someone wanted people to have cheap E85 the first thing they need to do is ban the use of it in gasoline (i.e. 10%)
The market would then be flooded with ethanol and the price would drop a ridiculous amount.
I really don't understand why it is so much higher here. I mean Indiana isn't far from Iowa and its not like we don't grow corn in this state!
X2 Put that in a higher compression engine and see which one wins.
Today it's $1.93 so it's going in the right direction. :smile: