The cost of E85
 

Last week I used my OFT to convert over to E85 and today was my first chance to calculate my new MPG. On a stg 2 93 tune I was getting 25 mpg (I got new tires last month and that tanked my fuel mileage by 3 mpg!) and with this tank of E85 I got 20.9 mpg. These are the numbers I'm going by.

The stage 2 93 tune was nice and really woke my car up. 93 was $3.09/gal today. E85 is fantastic and the extra torque has woken my car up again. I love it, plus it smells awesome. The price of E85 this morning was $2.09/gal. I'm not including the cost of the tablet because I'm comparing the stg 2 93 to stg 2 E85 tune. I'm not comparing to stock. Also note that my MPSS are terrible for fuel mileage so.... Errr... Well... YMMV

So what's the cost? Factoring in the 16.4% crappier fuel mileage but 32.7% better fuel price and taking into account a new OCI (at $60/oil change) of 5000 miles with E85 and 8000 with 93 gasoline I did some math.

Per 1000 miles:
93 will cost me $131.10
E85 will cost me $111.68

Check my numbers, I suck at math. That said, I triple checked. Looks like this may be an economic mod as much as a performance mod.

Notice I post this on valentine's day. That's how I feel about E85 so far :wub:

Likewise here, 30 on 91, 20 on e-85, bur e-85 ia a buck a gallon cheaper and my car runs so much better. And I can piss off all the "Greenums"!

That's the best reason!

I think I said it before but I would pay good money to just sit back and watch people's reactions to your being parked in those spaces. There would be zero convincing some people that it is 100% legit.

I've had some pretty good conversations over this.
One little ole lady said "How dare you park here? I swim i'm flex fuel, I'm running e-85. I looked at her car and asked, "Are You"? She said NO. You have to go all the way to DHS to get e-85. I said I know, But to me the trip is worth it to save our earth. I then said "You'r telling me you have gas in your car parked in a "Clean Air" space? She said yes, I then told her in blunt terms to get her fake, phony, clean air car out of MY Clean Air parking Space.

It is fun watching all the advertisements here that push flex fuel vehicles. I doubt there is a station in the whole Province that sells it though.

Only station in the country is in Ottawa, at least last I checked. Might be none at this point.

Edit: Upon further checking, that station no longer sells it. So, none in Canada.

Unfortunately I can't get E85 around me... It makes me sad. Especially since there's CORN EVERYWHERE.

A full tank of e85 would cost me $67 dollars and will last 5 days.

A full tank of 93oct would cost me $30 dollars and will last 7 days.

E85 = $2.40/liter
93oct = $0.90/liter

Here in the US the corn political lobby is so heavily subsidized by the government that they can sell this shit for less $ than gas costs even though you get less energy out of E85 than it takes in diesel to make it. It's not a "green" fuel "that is bullshit put out there by the American corn growers.

Zero shits given, I consider this a little of my tax money back, a great performance upgrade and some farmers get to keep growing and selling that shit. They can piss down my back and tell me it's raining that's fine as long as I get my gogo juice for cheap.

I knew the Ottawa one was gone but never bothered to look at the rest of the country. Amazing that there isn't a single one.

Even if E85 cost more than 93 and got half the MPG, I'd still buy it.. because :burnrubber:

I hate you so much.I pay more for fuel and don't get a choice unless I buy E85 by the drum. Before I moved back here I was visiting family in Colorado and they had several stations within a couple miles. The nearest E85 station to here is in the Central Valley hundreds of miles away.

You know how it takes energy to make energy? There is no free lunch. It takes large amounts of energy to grow, harvest, and distill Ethanol. But instead of being completely fossil fuel based it gets a portion of it's energy from sunlight and consumes a bit of carbon dioxide and makes a bit of oxygen. Most of the ethanol plants use natural gas which is cleaner than coal or petroleum. The directs subsidies were wiped out a couple years ago that that mostly consisted of the blender's credit that went to oil refineries. That said your case is the exception. A lot of places it doesn't make financial sense. But then it's basically cheap race fuel. So good for you.:thumbsup:

That's what I'm looking at going flex fuel for. Closest E85 to me would require almost a 1/4 tank round trip. But hauling some jugs to the track and paying under $3 a gallon vs. $10 for some 100oct would be nice. Plus I get a power boost and can fill up cheap whenever I happen by an E85 station.

LOL :thumbup:

Florida is car culture gone unchecked. This place is like no other place I have lived- for better and for worse. There's no car inspections and the local police don't really seem to care, the EPA doesn't do anything and the only thing I ever hear about is sometimes people get a fix it ticket for loud exhausts in some counties. I really think that this place is so crazy and chaotic that the police have a lot of real crime to deal with and can't be bothered with hassling people for stupid stuff. Cops have a tough job around here, people tuning cars is the least of their worries.

We have great gas, great choice and it's cheap. There are performance garages and tuners all over and car meets and shows almost daily- I have my choice of 3 or 4 this weekend. Every street corner every day is a car show and a lot of people drive really nice cars here. From rat rods, to exotics, to bikes, to classics, to ricers and street race cars you can find everything here. Catless tuned 86's are a dime-a-dozen here.

If you are into cars- REALLY into cars, you should live here.

But the downside to having access to the car culture you described is that you have to live in Florida.

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My god, I just saw how many E85 stations there are in Florida.

I hate California, but good thing is I seem to have a job NYC soon and will be getting out of here soon :D Not that there's much E85, or a good place to park a car around there, but the public transit actually runs at reasonable intervals there so it'll be good mod-itis rehab.

I hate that I have no real access to e85. What good is living in Orange county?

I have most of that here except the E85. There is a Subie group that meets up in Eureka once a week. I've just been too preoccupied. The only smog checks we do is when bringing in an out of state car and that is a one time deal. There is a state wide 90db sound limit but that's not exactly a problem? :iono: Now if I travel outside the Redwood curtain then I'm reminded that this is California. I wish the state would move out more than anything. We've got mountain roads that would put the Tail of the Dragon to shame if they were maintained. There's hundreds of miles of empty coast line that can be completely empty on any given day. Oregon is right down the road for tax free shopping. Meanwhile California just passed a huge tax on annual registration and fuel. But then $300 annual and $100 a month is still nothing.

It's nice and cool all year except for maybe a week in the summer when it gets above 70 and week in the winter when it dips below 40. We get snow at the higher elevations sometimes. Which is really the only thing that scares southerners enough to keep them from completely taking over. :D

Almost a 1/4 tank!? :confused0068: I'd have to burn a 3/4 of a tank just to get to an E85 pump. Nevermind transporting 110 gallons of fuel all the way home for it to make financial sense. I'm already pricing the trailer.

Yeah, not super far but enough to not make it worth it considering I would need to fill up like every 2-3 days

To my credit, I did add this caveat. Because yeah, I have to live in Florida. Florida Man. No inspections means we have some of the worst cars in the world and it's outright dangerous too. Bald tires, body panels tied on with rope (not kidding here), broken windsheilds, etc etc- IMHO we NEED state inspections... just not smog or decibel level checks :-D Insurance is sky high because this place is the worst place I have ever lived for traffic and drivers. I lived in SoCal for a year and it was nothing compared this place.

Thorntons even has a reward program! Came out to 2.03/gal yesterday. The only real downside is 1) I can only fill up at a few stations. 2)in effect, I have a tiny fuel tank since I have to fill up a lot more often

Really? There's so many modified cars going around making much more noise than that, and I have never heard of anyone getting pulled over. A lot of stock cars will get to 94 ish.

Okay here, I looked it up lol: https://www.bar.ca.gov/FormsPubs/Fac...ification.html

95db, so Lambos are legal lol.

There it is. Somehow it doesn't apply to motorcycles or grow dozers.:iono:

There's four e85 stations in yorba linda, 1 in fullterton what are you talking about?

The one on esperanza road in yorba linda is charging $2.75/gal for e85. $4.05 for 91 premium.

sorry south orange county. having e85 30 minutes away does me little good.

I'm so lucky...
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jelly

What app is that? Gasbuddy sucks at finding E85 near me.

I just went on afdc.energy.gov, but my intentions were to show that although present, every station is out of the way. The closest one is 10 miles away in a direction I never go.

I must be lucky. There's an e85 gas station about 5 miles away from work and another 0.9 miles away from home. The alternate station is about 4 miles away by the supermarket/bank I shop at.

I also have a costco gas to do 91 octane e10/e15 about 3 miles away which is usually where I get gas.

I think Speedway started carrying this at most of their stations... Maybe I should switch.

I wish. I have a speedway less than a mile from my house. I need to go check. Never thought about e85 for economy, but i have 2 stations and one is $2.18 and the other $2.24, compared to $3 a gallon for 93. Hmm, I have to see how much it takes to get a flex fuel kit installed.

Remember that E85 does not have the same energy output as gas so you have to burn more of it to go the same distance. The reduced mileage sometimes is a total wash over the price difference. Not too bad if you don't have to go out of your way to get the E85 but if you have to travel to get it then the difference will probably have no savings. You will of course be able to bump up the HP so that may make it worthwhile.

I'm not really looking at it for economy, honestly. I've never bothered myself with the price of gas. I just hook it up until the car is full and rarely pay attention to price. I've considered E85 in the past and this is just a reminder that it exists as a mod.

true, but if it is $1 a gallon difference and it stays there it should be worth it. Just one more reason for me to save money so i can get a tune too.