15 states offer E85 at 25%+ less than gasoline

[HoosierRon]

According to http://www.e85prices.com/, the following states have E85 for sale at 30%+ less than gasoline:

Colorado
Illinois
Indiana

Iowa
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Mississippi
New York
South Dakota

In addition, the following states offer it at 25%+ less than gasoline:

Kansas
Ohio
Oregon
Nebraska
Pennsylvania
Wisconsin

Nationwide, the average difference is 17.9%.

And I might add, E85 is brought to you courtesy of the red, white and blue.

[eurohazard]

Too bad you get worse gas mileage though!

However, I took a trip from Sacramento to Seattle to Little Rock, and back again. I could help but notice that E85 was as low as $1.99 when gas was about 50 cents more. Out of curiosity, I calculated my trip had I been able to use $1.99 E85 fuel on the whole trip......I would have saved me ~$200 as I remember. I got 15.5 mpg on that trip with 8 people in my Armada and going ~85 mph almost the whole way. I used 13.5 mpg for my hypothetical E85 scenario.

[camaro_freak]

Originally Posted by eurohazard

Too bad you get worse gas mileage though!

However, I took a trip from Sacramento to Seattle to Little Rock, and back again. I could help but notice that E85 was as low as $1.99 when gas was about 50 cents more. Out of curiosity, I calculated my trip had I been able to use $1.99 E85 fuel on the whole trip......I would have saved me ~$200 as I remember. I got 15.5 mpg on that trip with 8 people in my Armada and going ~85 mph almost the whole way. I used 13.5 mpg for my hypothetical E85 scenario.

no kidding. That little fact isn't getting much air time. and, I hear, less horsepower.. although I haven't seen the exact details.

[jason644]

Originally Posted by camaro_freak

no kidding. That little fact isn't getting much air time. and, I hear, less horsepower.. although I haven't seen the exact details.

E85 is 105 octane so it gives you more horsepower and you do lose about 15% to 20% in fuel economy, however it is nice to have the option to run it if you want to. I know around where I live it is about $1.10 less than regular unleaded so it is cheaper to run.

[HoosierRon]

Originally Posted by camaro_freak

no kidding. That little fact isn't getting much air time. and, I hear, less horsepower.. although I haven't seen the exact details.

What hasn't been getting much air time? The fact that he would have saved $200 if he had used E85 instead of gasoline? Yeah, I wish more people realized that.

[Saturn69]

Originally Posted by eurohazard

Too bad you get worse gas mileage though!

However, I took a trip from Sacramento to Seattle to Little Rock, and back again. I could help but notice that E85 was as low as $1.99 when gas was about 50 cents more. Out of curiosity, I calculated my trip had I been able to use $1.99 E85 fuel on the whole trip......I would have saved me ~$200 as I remember. I got 15.5 mpg on that trip with 8 people in my Armada and going ~85 mph almost the whole way. I achieved 13.5 mpg for my hypothetical E85 scenario.

At more than $1 less than regular gas, who cares? It's a tradeoff; get fuel 10% more often, pay 25% less. Yeah, I can get behind that.

[XP300]

The closest E-85 station has E-85 at $3.79 and regular at $4.29. The difference is about 12-13%.

[Beau]

E85 should be the fuel of choice for sports cars, and it should be exempt from the absolutley rediculous witch hunt of a religon that global warming caused by excess co2.

E85 produces much co2 as well, and since it does have a good octane rating, its very useful for high boost applications as seen in my Supra.

[ForcedTQ]

Originally Posted by jason644

E85 is 105 octane so it gives you more horsepower and you do lose about 15% to 20% in fuel economy, however it is nice to have the option to run it if you want to. I know around where I live it is about $1.10 less than regular unleaded so it is cheaper to run.

The fact that the fuel is 105 octane does not make the engine return a higher horsepower rating. The consumer needs to understand that in order for them to get everything (Gas mileage and Engine power) out of their vehicle, it needs to be designed specifically for E85.

Current Flex-Fuel vehicles are a stopgap measure designed at getting the general public into vehicles that can use E-85. They ARE NOT yet optimized for E-85 as they are still designed to burn regular gasoline, (which as you notice is a lower octane rated fuel 87-91 vs. 105). This is a large part of the ~15% fuel mileage decrease that you might see when running E-85 in one of these vehicles.

Higher horsepower ratings can be achieved by increasing an engines compression and the ignition timing advance to a certain degree as a result of running a 105 octane fuel. If engines are not optimized to take full advantage of the decreased detonation propensity of E-85 then the reduction in fuel mileage and horsepower will continue.

[JVal14]

Originally Posted by eurohazard

Too bad you get worse gas mileage though!

However, I took a trip from Sacramento to Seattle to Little Rock, and back again. I could help but notice that E85 was as low as $1.99 when gas was about 50 cents more. Out of curiosity, I calculated my trip had I been able to use $1.99 E85 fuel on the whole trip......I would have saved me ~$200 as I remember. I got 15.5 mpg on that trip with 8 people in my Armada and going ~85 mph almost the whole way. I used 13.5 mpg for my hypothetical E85 scenario.

85? Geeze dude, you would have saved $200 just by slowing down to 75

[TruckMan]

According to the EPA ratings, you'll lose about 25% with E85. So, unless it's >25% cheaper (and according to the article, in most cases it's not), you're losing money.

If there were any stations close to me I'd give it a try.

[HoosierRon]

Originally Posted by TruckMan

According to the EPA ratings, you'll lose about 25% with E85. So, unless it's >25% cheaper (and according to the article, in most cases it's not), you're losing money.

If there were any stations close to me I'd give it a try.

Kroger #460
4038 Old Denton Rd.
Carrollton, TX 75007

Kroger #587
3939 Frankford Rd. @ Midway
Dallas, TX 75287

Kroger #577
7415 N MacArthur Blvd.
Irving, TX 75063
972-432-9288

Kroger #598
9732 Coit Rd.
Plano, TX 75025

Kroger #461
5190 Hwy. 78 & Murphy Rd.
Sachse, TX 75048

[eurohazard]

Originally Posted by JVal14

85? Geeze dude, you would have saved $200 just by slowing down to 75

You are correct sir! And I feel dumb for not mentioning it in that post.....but it was a family emergency that necessitated quick travel. My wife's grandmother had passed, and unfortunately few (if any of my in-law siblings) could afford to fly. We all made in my Armada, and on time too thankfully.

But again you're totally right.....If getting respectable fuel mileage was #1 priority, I would have been doing the speed limit.

[treekiller]

but in most Flex Fuel cars REAL WORLD mileage loss is 10-15% some as high as 20% so even in a worst case it's still better for most flex fuel drivers. and the Horsepower drop does not exist. actually horsepower increases in most models, (but only slighty 2-3 hp) due to the cooler denser air charging the cylinders. that's why a car doddling along the highway usually only sees a 10% drop since they are only using 5-10 of their hp (A range where the car does not need to run Extremely rich)

I go from 32 to 29 in my NON flex fuel Sentra. where I see the most advantage is around 50/50 blend of E85 and Regular. I see almost no mileage loss and I can mix regular, since normally my car knocks like marbles in a coffee can on anything less then 91 super.

And I've Driven the Car Back and Forth from Tampa To New Jersey twice using varying levels of E85 and consistently get the same results. on the Highway it's almost exactly 10% loss switching between E10 and E85 with no other variables, (cruise locked on 65, open flat highway etc) and thats with the engine in closed "feedback" loop so I know it's not running lean.. (I honestly believe some stations are cheating us on the percentage of ethanol) I can smell my car running. and where I can Gas, I can't E85 but some stations E85 I CAN smell the petrol... so I assume they are lower percentages of ethanol.

Even When I go to the track I still Run 20-25% E85. so I can blend down regular 87 and still end up with 91+ octane.

When you are getting 10MPG Lapping Sebring around 2:40... The E85/Reg mix saves me ~$15-$20 every track day. Remember at 10MPG and an Average Speed of 80 MPH it only takes 1.5 Hours to Suck a Tank dry on track. If that tank was $4.30/G Super or worse $5.20/G Race gas. I'd be out a lot more money.

[TruckMan]

I had a 8% to 10% drop in fuel economy in my motorcycle when Texas mandated E10 a couple years ago. I can't believe that E85 would only be 10% to 15% worse than regular gass. Unless you're talking about the two losses combined - 10% loss from E10 + 15% loss from E85 = 25%. That I could believe.