The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that it would temporarily allow widespread sales of a higher ethanol gas blend in a move that they hope will tamp down consumer prices that have soared since the Iran war began.
The sale of E15 is typically discontinued in the summer because it can contribute to harmful air pollution.
Not all are convinced the move will substantially lower gas prices. E15 isn’t available in all states and some places don’t have the necessary infrastructure or enough of a supply of ethanol to ramp up use, said Kenneth Gillingham, a professor at the Yale School of the Environment who studies the impacts of transportation regulations on prices, emissions and consumer welfare.
From the article it sounds like it is based on your state. Odd to me that year-round E15 and E85 isn’t available everywhere. It’s cheaper and lowers carbon emissions.
Even just the E15 here is $0.30 cheaper than the E10. I have even seen it drop to $0.50 cheaper from time to time.
what gets me is it says basically at most 15% and you know they are only going to go to 15% if its cheaper and honestly gas was so cheap I kinda wondered if the ethanol was often like 11%. same with the e85 which can be much smaller. combine that with alchol being a useful additive in the winter. I actually would look at the prices and assume the e15 was like 10% less energy (its not that low) and e85 was two thirds or three fourths. I think its closer to 3/4 but that might slightly give it to much. Often the discount was worth it and you are getting higher octane like premium gas.
Ethanol has 1/3 less energy density but higher octane it burns slower.
So E85 versus E10 is a difference of 0.33 x 0.05 of 1.6 percent. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.
You want more efficiency and save big $? Drive the speed limit, then you can cut costs by 20-30% because aero drag is exponential.
yeah that just means its an even better deal vs my suppositions. Don’t get me wrong im not big on ethanol subsidies but as an individual buying from the pump im making decisions based on my limited supply of money. One thing I did not mention which could be a factor is that gasoline evaporates more than ethanol but ironically mixing a bit of alcohol makes both evaporate faster. Where I am at regular is required to be 10% which is like the worst case. if you buy the ones with more ethanol it lowers the vapor pressure the more you have in. This make e85 if you car can handle it that much better especially if it sits more than drives (like mine)