I've a few white papers and the average measured loss with a few vehicles was around 3%? However I've always figured if the engines timing could be advanced a couple of degrees to take advantage of the slightly higher octane that an E10 mix has, the loss becomes negligible. I tried this experiment with an old 4 banger and there was no difference in mileage with straight petrol and E10 with +3 degree ignition advance, averaged over 6 months.
Ethanol Enhanced Gasoline
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severach,
I understand that math. I wanted to Eddie's BTU numbers since his post implied that there is not a range when there is.
Leo,
Can you link to those white papers?
I understand that math. I wanted to Eddie's BTU numbers since his post implied that there is not a range when there is.
Leo,
Can you link to those white papers?
Kestas
Staff member
Originally Posted By: Leo
... of the slightly higher octane that an E10 mix has...
Not true. If E10 has higher octane, then why is it sold as 87 octane - same as 100% gasoline?
Though alcohol has a lower BTU value, there are other mitigating factors that affect a car's gas mileage. One is that we don't know how efficiently engines burn an alcohol mix (E10) when compared with gasoline. The other is that some engines are calibrated in such a way that alcohol messes things up.
One engineer wrote in the September 09 issue of Automotive Engineering where he scrupulously tracked his gas mileage over a long time using E10 vs pure gasoline. Once averaged, he found he got 7.8% better mileage with pure gasoline for his particular vehicle (08 Nissan Rogue) - much more than the theoretical 3.3% gain.
Looking at that number, the argument was that ethanol created a condition where his car was burning more gasoline (apart from alcohol) with E10 and made him more dependent on imported oil than if his car was burning pure gasoline.
... of the slightly higher octane that an E10 mix has...
Not true. If E10 has higher octane, then why is it sold as 87 octane - same as 100% gasoline?
Though alcohol has a lower BTU value, there are other mitigating factors that affect a car's gas mileage. One is that we don't know how efficiently engines burn an alcohol mix (E10) when compared with gasoline. The other is that some engines are calibrated in such a way that alcohol messes things up.
One engineer wrote in the September 09 issue of Automotive Engineering where he scrupulously tracked his gas mileage over a long time using E10 vs pure gasoline. Once averaged, he found he got 7.8% better mileage with pure gasoline for his particular vehicle (08 Nissan Rogue) - much more than the theoretical 3.3% gain.
Looking at that number, the argument was that ethanol created a condition where his car was burning more gasoline (apart from alcohol) with E10 and made him more dependent on imported oil than if his car was burning pure gasoline.
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