Ethanol Cost per Mile

With only 2/3 the energy of gasoline, ethanol costs more per mile. That’s just science. But it’s not widely known because of powerful corn-ethanol lobby is in cahoots with the environmentalists (who are getting hoodwinked).

The energy of ethanol relative to gasoline
A.  76,000  = BTU of energy in a gallon of ethanol
B.  116,090 = BTU of energy in a gallon of gasoline
C.  .655 = 2/3 = GGE of energy in a gallon of ethanol.  A / B. (GGE =energy in a gal. of gas)
D.  1.53 = Gallons of ethanol with the energy of 1 gallon of gasoline.  D = B / A.

The story of ethanol mileage costs

Some Ethanol proponents claim it doesn’t hurt their mileage, but this goes against physics, and you will not find the ethanol lobby making such fraudulent claims–they could be sued. But just to be sure, zFacts analyzed all of EPA’s ethanol mileage tests for one year and, big surprise, ethanol gave exactly 2/3 the mileage of gasoline.

Now there is one possible loophole and it is used by a Swedish sports car, the SABA 9-5 Bio-power. Here’s the trick. Higher compression ratios make engines more efficient, and because of its high octane, ethanol can take a higher compression ratio. The Bio-power is turbo charged and when it uses E85 it switches to a higher compression ratio. It still gets fewer mpg on ethanol, but it does a little better. Unfortunately it’s very expensive. An easier approach is to use diesel, which also gives you a high compression ratio and mileage as good as a hybrid at less cost. That’s why all big trucks are diesel.

The USDA tells us that ethanol cost 57¢ more per gallon on average over the last 25 years (and it still does). Put that together with the fact that it takes 1.53 gallons to equal a gallon of gasoline.

23% extra fuel cost of using E85 with 2006 models

The EPA has measured the gas mileage of 2006 flexible fuel models. For the 31 models they tested the average reduction is 26% fewer miles per gallon. For example a car that gets 30 mpg on regular would typically get 22.2 mpg with E85. This is exactly what is predicted from the fact that E85 has less energy per gallon than gasoline.For these calculations, the EPA assumes that E85 costs $2.00 and regular $2.20/gallon. Obviously they are on the low side, especially for ethanol, but this proportion is similar to what DOE predict for the next few years. The loss in mileage more than makes up for the cost savings, and on average the EPA predicts driving on E85 will cost 23% more than driving on regular.

Here’s a letter from someone using only E85.

He’s getting slightly worse mileage than predicted by ethanol’s low energy: 2/3 the energy of gasoline. But Sam has been fooled by the deceptive (but true) claim that Ethanol has high octane and thinks he should actually get better mileage.Sir;

SAM WALTERS
Annapolis, MD.

This letter was posted by National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition. They answered, but did not tell him why he was getting low mileage—they don’t want people to know.

This is what the Iowa Dept. of Agriculture tells us:

Even at the same price, E85 would be 41% more expensive than regular gasoline.

Every fuel has two energy values, sometimes called lower and high heating values. The lower value is the energy you can get without condensing the water out of the exhaust. “Condensing furnaces” for your home do just that and can almost recover the higher heating value. Cars cannot use steam in their exhaust; it just goes out the tailpipe.

For cars, and all internal combustion engines, the lower heating value is the relevant value, yet DOE almost always publishes the higher heating value.

Notice that 100 – X is the percent of gas and X/1.52 is the percent of ethanol adjusted down by about 2/3 because it has less energy.

And because the new gasoline recipe contains less energy, mileage per gallon is declining.

On Friday, … the Energy Policy Act of 2005 ended the requirement that gasoline sold in areas prone to air pollution include an “oxygenate.” … Refiners over most of the country’s big gasoline markets, anticipating the rule, have already dropped the chemical MTBE.

The refiners were not explicitly required to drop MTBE, but virtually all have done so because it has polluted groundwater and exposed them to liability suits. … But now refiners must replace that ingredient. And they need a substitute that is also high octane, as MTBE is. Refiners have turned in part to ethanol, which is also an oxygenate but not a pollution worry.

Ethanol costs more than gasoline, and shipping it from the Midwest, is cumbersome and expensive, because it has to go by barge, railroad tank car or tanker truck, rather than pipeline.

West Texas Intermediate, the American benchmark oil, was up only about 39 cents a gallon last month compared with April 2005, while the wholesale price of gasoline rose about 64 cents over the same period. … Experts at the Energy Department, the refiners’ trade association and elsewhere agree that the changeover from MTBE was a factor, although they differ about the amount. …

The oxygenate requirement has been obsolete for years. It was intended to make the fuel mix leaner, reducing air pollution. But that works only on older cars, with carburetors, not in modern vehicles with oxygen sensors and fuel injectors.

NY Times

Does the SAAB 9-5 beat the ethanol mileage problem?Autoblog gives these values. Gas 25.7mpg@30mph, 22.9mpg@50mph, 16.0mpg@70mph E85 17.4mpg@30mph, 15.8mpg@50mph, 11.4mpg@70mph. That averages to a 31% reduction in mileage, which is more than other cars.