GM Subsidizes E85 in LA

by Frank Williams

February 22nd, 2008 8:21 AM

If you're a member of the TV rat pack or a crowd control officer with the Los Angeles police, we suggest you gear-up and head over to Conserv Fuel on San Vicente Blvd in Brentwood on February 26. For just two hours, from noon to 2pm, GM is subsidizing E85 to the tune of 85 cents per gallon (geddit?). GM's press release says they want to "help raise awareness about the first station in Los Angeles to offer E85 ethanol, and to encourage drivers of FlexFuel vehicles to use this cleaner, renewable fuel instead of gasoline." Of course it has nothing to do with the fact they just sank a bunch of bucks into an ethanol producer. Even with the decreased power and poorer mileage of E85, 85 cents per gallon makes it an attractive alternative (hence the incipient flared tempers). But how many of the bargain hunters will be back when it's back to to the station's normal $3 per gallon? That's when you'll see– well, could see if the media was bothered– what the average driver really thinks about E85.

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Edward Niedermeyer on Feb 22, 2008
Since it’s supposed to be so much better for the environment, how come Cali ain’t giving no lower tax love to E85??? Simple- because it's not so much better for the environment. In fact, it takes more energy to refine ethanol than you get out of it... and that's not even including the carbon embedded in fertilizers, farm equipment, etc.

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Martin Albright on Feb 22, 2008

I don't know about LA but here in CO E-85 is commonly anywhere from 60 cents to $1.00 less per gallon than even the cheapest unleaded, which is generally enough to make up the difference in MPG (though at the low end it may be close to breaking even.) When I ran E-85 in my flex fuel Ranger the MPG was typically about 15% lower.

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Engineer on Feb 22, 2008
Since it’s supposed to be so much better for the environment, how come Cali ain’t giving no lower tax love to E85??? Unlike, say the federal government, the CA legislature gets scientific input on these issues, from knowledgeable sources, like university professors, etc. Hence CA is not as easily lead astray by wildly optimistic claims form ethusiatic, but uninformed, supporters. For example, Schwarzenegger's "Hydrogen Highway" recently got cut back in scale, when it was determined that the most affordable (still expensive) hydrogen was actually dirtier than plain old gasoline. Who would have thought? Perhaps this new idea of using science when making long term decisions will spread to Washington DC. Don't hold your breath, though. There are powerful lobbyists, on both sides of the isle, ready to fight this "invasion" tooth and nail...

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Engineer on Feb 22, 2008
When I ran E-85 in my flex fuel Ranger the MPG was typically about 15% lower. That's all? You're either lucky or good... From KixStart's Tahoe report: From San Diego to Las Vegas and back, we used 36.5 gallons of regular gasoline and achieved an average fuel economy of 18.3 mpg. We spent $124.66 for gasoline for the trip. The average pump price was $3.42 per gallon. From San Diego to Las Vegas and back we used 50 gallons of E85 and achieved an average fuel economy of 13.5 mpg [~26% worse]. We spent $154.29 on E85 for the trip. The average pump price was $3.09 [~10% cheaper] per gallon Gas/E85 difference: The fuel economy of our Tahoe on E85, under these conditions, was 26.5 percent worse than it was when running on gas.

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