Saving 21 cents for e85 - not enough

[greencrew]

I bought a new truck, and when I get it home I notice it has a yellow gas cap, and says FFV on the sticker. So I look up e85 gas station on the web site, drive 10 miles to the closest one, and the saving is only $.21. With the loss in mileage and the loss in driving farther for gas, it's going to cost me more to run e85.

Am I just out of luck because I live in the wrong state. I did notice something like 1 in 6 e85 stations are in the stat of Minnesota.

 

[duaneb9729]

its not quite that high here, in the twin cities and it really depends on what part of town your in.

the difference in price is greater here also close to fifty cents here. i have been paying a little more attention to it lately, and if i lived more south in the metro area there are more stations that have it


it would be interesting to see what sort of mileage you do get with e-85 in your new truck

 

[mpersell]

Look for a Renew station. They usually have a much bigger discount than 21 cents.

http://www.startwithrenew.com/

A decent difference would be 60 cents or more. Here's a recent list of E85 stations in your area. Many of the stations in WI are 90 cents or more. There are 115 stations in WI listed as selling E85.

http://e85prices.com/wisconsin.html

 

[Audi Junkie]

In a non-FFV car, I get -10% mpg with E85. So, by my math I need to buy it at a -20% discount to make it worthwhile. At -$.80c a gallon, it's like saving $.40c a gallon over E10. That's borderline worthwhile and the price here seems to reflect that lame formula, supported only by my own rough calculations. Note that the lone E85 pump is at a premium priced truck stop on the PA Turnpike.

 

[greencrew]

mpersell, Thanks, that's the information I needed. I stopped at the second station from the bottom. the list is sorted by price, with the highest last.

I'll just have to travel up towards Mayville more often.

I noticed that the e85 price fluctuates with the price of gasoline. I wonder why that would happen? Is the e85 price set off of gasoline prices?

 

[greencrew]

It would be interesting to see what mileage I get with my new truck. I would like to take it out hunting in South Dakota. Too bad I don't have a cap for the dogs.

 

[mpersell]

The oil companies own the distribution network.

 

[greencrew]

Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
I get -10% mpg with E85. So, by my math I need to buy it at a -20% discount to make it worthwhile. At -$.80c a gallon, it's like saving $.40c a gallon over E10.

The e85prices link has a calculator.

 

[ZZman]

I read that E-85 gave 25% less gas mileage when used. Does it depend on the vehicle?

If true than E-85 would need to be 25 % cheaper or almost a dollar cheaper.

 

[greencrew]

Each vehicle is different, but most of the mileage loss is a result of the fact that there is less power in a gallon of ethanol than there is in a gallon of gasoline, so it will take 1.33 gallons of ethanol to travel the same distance a gallon of gasoline will take you.

There are stations is Wisconsin listed on the e85prices web site selling e85 for a dollar less than gasoline, but generally those locations are in smaller cities. The stations in large cities are less than 20%, with most less than 15%, and one at 4%. The bottom 10 are metro Milwaukee or metro Madison. 10 of the top 12 are small towns in rural Wisconsin.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Regular gas = $3.60 / E85 = $2.99 here. -20% price and I get -10% mpg, so it's a small net gain, like $.25c to $.30c a gallon savings.

 

[ctrcbob]

Don't know how much less my mpg would be if I used E85, however all we can get in Florida is E10 (see below) and since Florida went to that in May, my gas milage has gone down OVER 10%. Very angry about that.

Since the hurricane did damage to the refineries around Houston, President Bush signed a temporary bill to allow "Foreign Gasoline" to be imported into the country, until the Houston refineries get fully back on line. (Never heard of importing Foreign Gasoline, just petrolium). This Foreign Gasoline does not meet our standards for air quality, so it was/is just a temporary thing. Well, all of a sudden, (last two tank fulls), my mpg has gone back up to where it was before Florida mandated E10. I'm going to be sorry to see us in Florida go back to E10.

 

[greenaccord02]

They need to let us have our real gas back and let those who want to use E85 can support that gasohol trash. In Texas there's no such thing as real gas anymore - at least from what I've seen - and we MAKE the stuff...

I know that's a bit off topic, sorry. Just got off work and I felt the need to rant.

 

[Steve S]

I would agree with the loss in mpgs ,but I like the idea of a flex fuel vehicle .Gives you options to use what you can get.

 

[oilyriser]

I saw E85 for sale at $1.999/gallon, and regular gas for $1.879.

 

[G-MAN]

Originally Posted By: oilyriser
I saw E85 for sale at $1.999/gallon, and regular gas for $1.879.


E85 is between $1.29 and $1.69 a gallon here.

 

[wileyE]

E10's a good way to keep tanks free from water. Cheaper to pass it (water) off to the consumer than to separate it and pay for it's proper disposal. The other nice part is it's subsidized by the taxpayers. Here pumps that contain are labeled "up to 10%". They really should be labled 90% gasoline, 10% water and ethanol mix".
Ask any station that sells it how often they have to change their hydrosorbic filters.