Ethanol vs. Your Engine

[Cormanus]

I'm a big fan of getting off of foreign oil and also breaking the oil monopoly that's existed in this country for the last 100 years. To that end I've been doing much research on alternative fuels and particularly ethanol. The country of Brazil is currently almost completely if not 100% free of the foreign oil dilemma because of their extensive use of ethanol. I have found lots of information to prove that ethanol is completely safe for almost every vehicle made since the late 90's.

With my current mix ratio, I currently run approx. 42% ethanol in one of my vehicles. Worked out that way the last tank because I simply filled it half and half with E85 and gasoline. I can tell you after running it for approx 300 miles that there have been no ill effects. The engine actually runs smoother and cooler.

I also have to address the mpg topic. If ethanol is burned in an engine optimized for gasoline, which all of our engines are, it's not logical to expect it to get the same results as a gallon of gasoline as far as mpg. But if an engine that normally burns gasoline is optimized to burn ethanol, many studies have shown that the mpg increases.

The last item to mention is that there have been no documented cases that ethanol has harmed any engine or parts from it's use. Much of that confusion has come from methanol which can cause problems to gasoline engines. Almost every vehicle manufactured in this country since 1990 is ethanol friendly.

Alternative fuels won't be going away. The Clean Air Act of 1970 will make sure of that. It's interesting reading if anyone gets the time to check it out. I'm not trying to start a heated debate here or anything like that. I'm just a very concerned citizen who wants to break free of foreign oil and the oil monopoly and I'm doing what I can to get there.

Gentlemen,

The above is so rife with unquestionable errors that a few must be pointed out. First, I have been a new car dealer for GM, KIA, Lotus, and GMC Trucks for over a quarter of a century. Next, as a multi location Chevron dealer today and one of the largest retailers of E-85 in Arizona I am qualified to speak here.

1. The United States is oil independent today and thanks to the fracking revolution we are a net exporter of oil.

2. A gallon of Ethanol only contains 65% as much energy as a gallon of gasoline. That's not an opinion, that's a fact. Many GM and Ford vehicles are Flex Fuel (including my new 2015 F-150) and the vehicle can determine the % of Ethanol up to 85% and adjust engine settings to run properly on it. None of them get "better mileage", none of them get the same mileage, every one of them get about 30% poorer mileage. My F-150 does worse than that on E-85.

3. Ethanol is not safe to use in almost every vehicle made since the 1990's unless you are talking about E-10 (10% ethanol). E-85 isn't even safe for regular gas pumps let alone non-Flex Fuel cars and trucks. E-85 is so corrosive that I had to buy special tanks with all stainless steel motors, lines, and sensors. The pumps and nozzles on my E-85 pumps are much more expensive than my gas pumps because everything needs to be stainless. Non Flex Fuel cars won't run properly, if they run at all, on E-85. It will void your warranty and rust your fuel system components.

4. My regular gas tanks have water sensors to tell me if water is collecting on the bottom. There are no water sensors in my E-85 tanks because Ethanol soaks up water like a sponge. If water ever gets in it gets pumped into peoples cars diluted into the fuel.

5. You claim that "many studies have shown that the mpg increases". I do this for a living and I haven't seen one study from any credible source that claims better mileage from Ethanol which contains 1/3 less energy per gallon. Please quote a source.

6. "The last item to mention is that there have been no documented cases that ethanol has harmed any engine or parts from it's use." This leaves me incredulous. Not one documented case?!?!? At least once a month I have a customer that is not paying attention fill up with E-85 in a non Flex Fuel car and drive away. They call furious when their car stops running and the typical cost to tow the car, drain the tank, clean out the fuel lines and get them back on the road is about $500. Let that E-85 sit in the car for a month and the cost to repair the rusted components can run into the thousands. Cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles, and all manner of power equipment numbering in the millions have been damaged by Ethanol. A new Dressor-Wayne gas pump costs about $15,000.00. If you pump E-85 with it the warranty is voided immediately. In order to pump E-85 I have to buy the $20,000 model with stainless guts.

7. So why do I sell E-85? The Maracopa County Board of Supervisors makes E-85 use mandatory for all taxi cabs servicing the Phoenix airport and my station is right by the airport. The cab drivers hate it even though it costs 20-25% less than gasoline because they are getting 30% less mileage in their flex fuel Chevrolet's. They cuss about it all the time but they are forced to use it so I sell it.

8. It takes over 100 gallons of water and almost a gallon of high energy diesel (to farm and transport the corn), tons of fertilizer and farmland, and more to produce one gallon of low energy Ethanol. Great for farmers, bad for everybody else.

9. Finally, "the oil monopoly that's existed in this country for the last 100 years" is quite a statement. Exxon-Mobil is the largest oil company in the U.S. and is the largest independent (non-government owned) oil company in the world. They control less than 3% of the world oil market. Chevron is #2 and they control less than 2% of the world market. That's quite a monopoly. Exxon is dwarfed by the state owned oil companies and is the 14th largest oil company globally. There are over 100 oil companies competing in the U.S. alone today. Monopoly? Seriously?? In the 1960's the telephone company was a monopoly. Exxon-Mobil doesn't command squat with their 3% market share.

If Ethanol made any sense people wouldn't need to be forced to buy it. All the best.

Chip Beck
Owner/Operator
Team CB Petroleum Properties

"Aye, there's the rub," as one of Shakespeare's characters (I forget which) once observed.

No-one would want to do anything to make US farmers unhappy. And, with great respect to farmers all over the world who are very important people, that's a great pity on a couple of fronts.