Comments on: France’s System U: Pas Plus d’E85!

By: 97escort

97escort — Thu, 08 May 2008 01:47:03 +0000

Fortunately France is not the future for E85. Locally, another station is installing E85 pumps this July. This will make a total of 3 within about a 10 mile radius of my house.

Sometimes I think Auto-extremist and TTAC are stuck in a 1960’s mindset. Auto-extremist thinks Pontiac is toast because it isn’t building ’60’s style excitement. Hey, that’s history. I like my Vibe, and time only moves in one direction: forward.

TTAC thinks we can continue to power the world’s cars on a finite amount of oil which is reaching peak production and is about to start a long decline. There will always be some oil but at an ever higher price.

Cheap oil is in the past. We need alternative fuels or else the auto business will decline with the fortunes of oil. Today oil hit $123.

How high will it have to go before we recognize we can’t produce the same cars or fuel them the same as we did in the 1960s when gas was 28 cents/gallon?

Those who refuse to change with the times will not survive. Isn’t that what the Deathwatches are all about?

By: Voice of Sweden

Voice of Sweden — Wed, 07 May 2008 20:16:50 +0000

La voiture la est au Suede! That’s like illustrating a story from India with a guy in California pumping gas!

The best thing about E85 in Sweden is that you can buy a E85 car at a rebate, or have a E85 car as company car at a reduced monthly fee, and still just fill it with ordinary gasoline. Smart!

By: Engineer

Engineer — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:31:54 +0000

Bullshit is bullshit, even (especially?) when it’s connerie.
Well said!

And the first paragraph is not too shabby, either…

By: NoneMoreBlack

NoneMoreBlack — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:00:54 +0000

TO translate: the government hasn’t sufficiently distorted the market’s clear signal that ethanol is a useless fuel through byzantine taxation, regulation, and subsidy, in order to meet the demands of interest groups.

Bullshit is bullshit, even (especially?) when it’s connerie.

By: virages

virages — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:19:22 +0000

Isn’t E85 vastly cheaper… I recall seeing E85 at the “Geant” Hypermarché the other day, the price was about 85 cents/l while regular was going for 1.45/l. That’s about 40% off the regular price… so with 30% less fuel economy, you won’t be losing money, just going to the pump more.

By: Subifreak

Subifreak — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:14:09 +0000

Perhaps the fact that roughly 50% (give or take) of vehicles over there are diesel to begin with so why bother?

By: AKM

AKM — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:57:48 +0000

And to think the French are all high and mighty when it comes to ecoconsciousness (and I’m french!) Every time I come back, I have to argue against E85.

“But it rejects 20% less CO2 than gas” says my friend
“sure, but with a fuel economy 30% lower, just make the calculation…” do I reply…

Oh, by the way, it’s “plus d’E85″, not “pas plus d’E85″.

By: jaje

jaje — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:37:08 +0000

I think the reckoning is coming – Europe and the US are not Brazil.