At what price differential do you buy E85?

[Revving2Redline]

Higher ethanol seems to require more maintenance as more wear is occurring. I also dont like the idea of 2/3 the energy of pure gas as it puts more strain on piston rings. I think E 5 would be the happy medium minus the boating,lawn equipment and aviation folk where pure gas is the only way to go. Occasionly I use top tier E10 but it is so little my car weighs in with a E 2 fuel and Itreat with Gumout Regane.

 

[javacontour]

When I'm returning a flex fuel rental car...

And that is pretty much the only time I'll buy it.

 

[Whimsey]

It's easy here in NJ, there is none or next to none E-85 at gas stations in NJ or much of the North East from what I can tell. In my travels from NJ to FL I did see some but not many stations that sold E-85. The ones I saw were within pennies of the regular gas price, not worth it with the mpg hit you take with E-85. Maybe in the Midwest, in the corn belt, you get more E-85 stations and better pricing since it's grown out there.

Whimsey

 

[Crispysea]

There are a few chains here that sell E85. It’s usually 10-20 cents lower. However, one has started selling it 50 cents cheaper! That puts it around $1.60-$1.70 a gallon. I have tried it in my wife’s Grand Caravan a few times. It seems to have a little more torque and power on takeoff, but mileage is 20-30% less. Six of one, half a dozen of another I suppose.

 

[jhellwig]

Originally Posted By: Cujet
The MPG difference is generally 27%. It's only lower, say as low as 16%, when the ethanol content is reduced to 50%, such as during the winter. Remember, ethanol content is reduced in winter to ensure engine starting.

The MPG reduction is directly proportional to the ethanol content. Even in South Florida, ethanol content is often reduced in the winter.


Minimum is 70% even in the winter. Edit.....never mind I guess they changed it back in 2012. 51% minimum now to meet rvp requirements depending on regions and tempature.


My father in law figured it out to need a 50 cent spread to be worth it with his vehicles. I only ever had a 2mpg loss when I used to drive my vehicle back and forth to work. On my work truck I get about 3 mpg less than e10 and about 2mpg less that e0(yes those numbers are the right way.)

 

[Tdbo]

Originally Posted By: jhellwig
Originally Posted By: Cujet
The MPG difference is generally 27%. It's only lower, say as low as 16%, when the ethanol content is reduced to 50%, such as during the winter. Remember, ethanol content is reduced in winter to ensure engine starting.

The MPG reduction is directly proportional to the ethanol content. Even in South Florida, ethanol content is often reduced in the winter.


Minimum is 70% even in the winter. Edit.....never mind I guess they changed it back in 2012. 51% minimum now to meet rvp requirements depending on regions and temp


My father in law figured it out to need a 50 cent spread to be worth it with his vehicles. I only ever had a 2mpg loss when I used to drive my vehicle back and forth to work. On my work truck I get about 3 mpg less than e10 and about 2mpg less that e0(yes those numbers are the right way.)




Thanks. That is the kind of info that I was looking for.

 

[SilverFusion2010]

I'm running it because I like how the car performs with e85.

So much hate for a fuel with great power potential. With all these DI high-compression turbo engines it amazes me that more OEMs are not taking advantage for the high octane and cooling to run higher compression which allows reclaiming almost all the MPG

 

[TheKracken]

Ran 3 gallons in my prius with a 10 gallon tank...not a huge difference in mpg so far. Running 3 gallons in the sienna and haven't noticed any power gain when mixed with 93 but the mpg haven't gone down much either. The price difference from regular for me is about 30 cents.

 

[ZZman]

Needs to be at least 25% cheaper than regular unleaded.

 

[TiredTrucker]

I usually factor a 60-70 cent spread as being the break even. I haven't used E85 is quite a while, but when fuel was pegging $4 a gallon and higher several years ago, my vehicles lived on E85 for almost 2 years as the price difference was anywhere from $1 to $1.50 a gallon lower for E85. So even with the lower mpg, I was still ahead when cost per mile is factored. I do use E15 frequently. The price is typically a dime lower per gallon than E10 in my area, and I haven't seen any appreciable mpg difference.

There are a lot of horror stories about ethanol generating more wear and such in engines. While purely anecdotal, I find it hard to believe. My 1974 Pontiac Catalina with a carbureted 400 in it, it got E10 from the late seventies until we scrapped the car in the mid 90's with over 250,000 miles on it. The engine was still good. The car died of body cancer. Never had to work on the carb or fuel lines. I have never seen first hand or experienced a ethanol related issue with any vehicle. Now, true, I have seen some smaller OPE problems. But that seems to be more related to letting fuel sit for extended periods in tanks that are vented and a lot of condensation builds up in them and bonds with the ethanol. More about user error than the fuel.