What's the real skinny with E85?

[Qwimby1]

The one station in my market that I planned to use, just told me it is discontinuing it and changing the pumps to E15. An internet search pulls up a dozen stations in my market allegedly selling it, extolling its virtues and raving about how it's growing in popularity. In fact nobody sells it here now. The closest availability may be 50-60 miles and I'm not even sure of that.

If enough people wanted this stuff here, someone would be selling it. Looks like it had its day 4-5 years ago with high pump prices, but at least in my area there doesn't seem to be much demand.


I will say that just an OFT tune for 93 made a big difference. I was looking for another big jump with E85 today, but that's not an option now. Guess I'm in the market for a header.

[extrashaky]

One of the primary drivers for use of ethanol as fuel was our dependence on foreign oil. When we had to buy oil from Saudi Arabia, the corn lobby could push ethanol as a substitute.

But with the advancements in technology that allow oil to be pulled from oil sands and major reserve areas being opened up for drilling, we're no longer dependent on foreign oil. Now market forces take over, with consumers evaluating ethanol on its own merits rather than other factors propping up demand artificially.

The result is that people have realized ethanol is just not the superfuel it was marketed to be. It makes more sense in their daily lives to buy fuel that is mostly gasoline instead.

If I'm a station owner, I'm not going to tie up money and tank capacity in inventory of something few people want to buy.

[Dake]

I finally flashed the E85 tune on mine - only took six and a half years. The butt-dyno suggests it really does make a difference (this after having driven it with the basic OFT tune for years now). Gas mileage hasn't dropped significantly either and in my area E85 is about 2 bucks a gallon so I'm definitely breaking even in comparison to Premium, if not actually coming out a dash ahead.

[PetrolioBenzina]

Good stuff, the E95 is mo' better.

[ermax]

We have a locally owned company that is installing E85 pumps in almost all their stations. I can go anywhere in town and get it now. It’s always about $1/gal less than 93. My mileage dropped to about 22. It has a dramatic effect on the car though. I hope there is enough demand to prevent our stations from doing away with it. I don’t want to go back to 93.

[Qwimby1]

I haven't found anywhere here where I can get it, and that's a big disappointment. We have a station chain called Racetrack here which had at least one station selling it, but discontinued. An aggravating angle is the misinformation on the web. Searches turn up a dozen stations near me supposedly selling it, but not one I contacted actually has it.


I wonder if the demand nationally is growing or diminishing. I suspect it may be the latter.

[alphasaur]

Sort of bizarre but my mileage has increased since flashing to e85 and filling with it this past week. I'm at about 170 miles and half way through my tank. (display used to say approx 31.x mpg and currently at 33.x).

Power increase is very nice.

[ermax]

Originally Posted by Qwimby1

I haven't found anywhere here where I can get it, and that's a big disappointment. We have a station chain called Racetrack here which had at least one station selling it, but discontinued. An aggravating angle is the misinformation on the web. Searches turn up a dozen stations near me supposedly selling it, but not one I contacted actually has it.


I wonder if the demand nationally is growing or diminishing. I suspect it may be the latter.

I’ve seen people use GasBuddy to report ethanol free as E85. GasBuddy doesn’t have an ethanol free option so idiots think E85 is the next closest option which is actually the farthest from the truth.

[ermax]

Originally Posted by alphasaur

Sort of bizarre but my mileage has increased since flashing to e85 and filling with it this past week. I'm at about 170 miles and half way through my tank. (display used to say approx 31.x mpg and currently at 33.x).

Power increase is very nice.

The display isn’t calibrated for E85 unless you modify some tables. If you test manually you will find your mileage has gone way down and will go down even more on the second fill after the remaining 93 is gone.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by Qwimby1

We have a station chain called Racetrack here which had at least one station selling it, but discontinued. An aggravating angle is the misinformation on the web. Searches turn up a dozen stations near me supposedly selling it, but not one I contacted actually has it.

I use Racetrac for about 95% of my fuel as they are scattered all around the Atlanta area, and most the corridors I drive out of town.

Almost all the ones that I use have e85. Some also have E0. They seem to have had a concerted effort recently to add both so surprised they removed it from yours. Their app shows you which stations have what. E0 is 87 and usually costs the same as E10 93.

I use E85 in our Suburban, which is Flexfuel, and can tell a difference over regular in it.

[Dake]

Originally Posted by ermax

The display isn’t calibrated for E85 unless you modify some tables. If you test manually you will find your mileage has gone way down and will go down even more on the second fill after the remaining 93 is gone.

Miles driven/gallons to fill = mileage. I averaged 29 on 93, and four tanks in with E85 is coming back at 26.

[ermax]

Originally Posted by Dake

Miles driven/gallons to fill = mileage. I averaged 29 on 93, and four tanks in with E85 is coming back at 26.

Yeah mine went from about 28 to 21. One of these days I will change the calibration on the display to match my actual mileage. I don’t stress over it much though. I just drive until it needs gas. Hahaha

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by ermax

One of these days I will change the calibration on the display to match my actual mileage.

How is that accomplished? Mine has never been right even with 93 octane E10. It has always been way too optimistic.

[Qwimby1]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

I use Racetrac for about 95% of my fuel as they are scattered all around the Atlanta area, and most the corridors I drive out of town.

Almost all the ones that I use have e85. Some also have E0. They seem to have had a concerted effort recently to add both so surprised they removed it from yours. Their app shows you which stations have what. E0 is 87 and usually costs the same as E10 93.

I use E85 in our Suburban, which is Flexfuel, and can tell a difference over regular in it.

I found two Racetracs which say they sell it, but the closest one is a 25-mile round trip. And I have one less than a mile from me with the nozzles zip tied to the frame and scheduled to be removed.