E15 is on the way

[duaneage]

http://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/controversial-e15-fuel-blend-is-on-the-way.html

This is not good news for our old bikes, or anyone who drives an older vehicle.

[tom203]

The article claims....."Ethanol is about $1 a gallon cheaper than gasoline at the wholesale level. If the full savings were passed along at retail, diluting gasoline with 15 percent ethanol would make the resulting blend about a nickel per gallon cheaper than the E10 blend that now accounts for most of the nation's motor-vehicle fuel."

This is nonsense- remove the farm subsidies and ethanol is more expensive.

[Billy Ricks]

And fuel mileage will suffer more. This is a negative return subsidy.

[duaneage]

This is going in the wrong direction. Ethanol has been exposed as a huge mistake in "energy policy" which needs to be dismantled. Here we have the EPA driving it in deeper.
If you haven't done so already, replace the o rings in the carbs with new ones, that is the least you can do. Drain the carbs every winter for storage. replace the fuel line on the carb with a plastic line that is immune to ethanol.

[hampshirehog]

Just try putting that sh!te in a fibreglass tank on a MkIV Spitfire. How to feck things up in one easy step. Lad at work owns the one used for the photo on the front of the Haynes manual (it is immaculate) and I spent several hours rescuing his carbs, taps and tank after he put in a drop of Morrisons unleaded.

[7981GS]

The last sentence explains the REAL reason for this trend.
As if the subsidies aren't enough of an incentive.
And driving the price of food up due to the lessening supply of edible corn to make into feed for food producing animals.

From that article:

On the cost side of the equation, if an E10 blend of fuel were selling at $4 a gallon, an E15 blend would be about $3.95. This would represent a savings of just 1.3 percent. Over 10,000 miles, the driver whose car gets 27 mpg using $4-a-gallon E10 would buy 370 gallons of fuel, at a cost of $1,480. Switching to an E15 blend would increase fuel consumption to about 375.5 gallons, at a cost of $1,483.23.

In such a case, the real winner would be the ethanol industry, which would benefit from a 50 percent increase in demand (And PROFIT) if E15 became ubiquitous.
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Don't forget to vote this November and remember who controls the EPA.

[duaneage]

Just try putting that sh!te in a fibreglass tank on a MkIV Spitfire. How to feck things up in one easy step. Lad at work owns the one used for the photo on the front of the Haynes manual (it is immaculate) and I spent several hours rescuing his carbs, taps and tank after he put in a drop of Morrisons unleaded.

Ethanol has caused a lot of problems with Ducati tanks from what I've heard too.
Not that they care, it's about the illusion of growing our own fuel and cutting off the tyrants abroad.

[Steve]

Not that they care, it's about the illusion of growing our own fuel and cutting off the tyrants abroad.

I saw something recently that one major source of the ethanol in our gas was NOT "home-grown", they were using sugar cane from Brazil.

.

[Dave8338]

I saw something recently that one major source of the ethanol in our gas was NOT "home-grown", they were using sugar cane from Brazil.

.

I believe this to be correct, Steve. What I'm not sure of, is/was that cane imported here for processing OR was it converted in Brazil?

If it is the latter, that just worsens the deal.

[Billy Ricks]

I believe this to be correct, Steve. What I'm not sure of, is/was that cane imported here for processing OR was it converted in Brazil?

If it is the latter, that just worsens the deal.

It's bound to be processed into sugar or syrup, transporting the cane itself would be a never-ending process.

[1_v8_merc]

I don't have a problem with Ethanol alone.
(Its a great fuel alternative in some cases)
But I DO have a problem when it gets "forcefully" crammed into gas pumps, without option for regular petroleum fuel.
At the same time, it's just a corporate scam....gas prices are still high, and still fluctuate in the same area.

The brazilians have successfully coverted to a majority of E85, while keeping prices lower than us, per gallon. But most gas pumps Also have a selection for Regular Petrol, Diesel and BioDiesel.

[Frank Z.]

uh oh...

... better double up on the Sta-bil

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ceW9Nc1hVHU?feature=player_detailpage

[jbthomp]

The real reason they are going to more and more ethanol in the fuel is because it lowers their cost therefore they make more profit off the same amount of sales. If anyone thinks higher ethanol blended fuels will lower gas prices they are seriously delusional. Besides that ethanol doesn't have as many BTU's as gasoline so you use more to produce the same amount of power. Corporate greed at it's finest....... I would look for natural gas to become more and more prevalent. It has already started in heavy diesel trucks due to the higher and higher emission standards by good ole uncle sam. There are a lot of trucks on the road right now that run on natural gas and i would only expect the number to get higher and higher. Eventually it will spill over to the automotive side. Eventually gasoline will become an ancient technology like vhs tapes or 8 track tapes.

[eil]

The real reason they are going to more and more ethanol in the fuel is because it lowers their cost therefore they make more profit off the same amount of sales. If anyone thinks higher ethanol blended fuels will lower gas prices they are seriously delusional. Besides that ethanol doesn't have as many BTU's as gasoline so you use more to produce the same amount of power. Corporate greed at it's finest....... I would look for natural gas to become more and more prevalent. It has already started in heavy diesel trucks due to the higher and higher emission standards by good ole uncle sam. There are a lot of trucks on the road right now that run on natural gas and i would only expect the number to get higher and higher. Eventually it will spill over to the automotive side. Eventually gasoline will become an ancient technology like vhs tapes or 8 track tapes.

If I owned vehicles that were designed to run on ethanol, I would want to buy it for them. If I lived in a country where ethanol production was efficient and cost-effective, I would support it as an alternative fuel. But neither of these are true. Until they are, I want real petroleum and don't care much about the end cost to me.

What kind of rejiggering is necessary to make a diesel engine run on natural gas?

[jbthomp]

Most of them are what's called dual fuel meaning they run on both diesel and natural gas at the same time. Usually 15% diesel and 85% natural gas. With this setup they are using the diesel fuel to start the ignition process and the gas to make it hotter. There are some running straight natural gas like inner city transit busses. They all have spark plugs and some kind of injection system for the gas. I have seen Chevy 350's ran on propane. All they do is add a propane carburetor and disable the gas fuel system. Everything else is usually stock. Not much power but it sure is cool