Welcome to the Corvette Forums at the Corvette Action Center!

E85

66NICK98

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 24, 2004
Messages
47
Location
New Jersey
Corvette
1966 Blue Conv, 1998 Black Conv.
Auto Line Detroit on Sunday morning had two marketing people from GM
talking about the E85 fuel and their flex vehicles that can take the fuel.

On the website e85.com I see it is rated at 105 octane and should cost no
more than regular gas plus its great for the environment.

Could we see GM giving us an option for the Corvette to use flex fuel?
We could use e85 or the gas we use now.

Interesting concept...what do you all think of this?
 
Hi there,
Well, you should NOT use E85 in Corvette, as of this time.
The corrosiveness of ethanol demands different injectors, pump, fuel system and evaporative systems.
Not to mention that the fuel will yield less horsepower, fuel mileage and costs more per gallon.
There are alot of people who thing E85 is the wave of the future.
I do NOT. The cost of refining E85 in fossil fuels more than outweighs the usage of E85. So, you will basically be using 1.7 gallons of gasoline for every 1 gallon of Ethanol used.
So, in essence, you are creating more greenhouse gases, just to produce the ethanol, never mind actually burning just the fuel you would normally use.
JMO, c4c5
 
From the website:


Does it take more energy to produce a gallon of ethanol than the energy we get out of it?

Response:

No. This has been a common misconception of the ethanol industry, that it takes more energy to make ethanol than is available to the final consumer. Remember, ethanol is produced from plant matter, today dominated by corn, wheat, potatoes, sorgum, etc. Plants grow through the use of energy provided by the sun and are a renewable resources. In the future, ethanol will be produced from waste products or "energy crops." In fact, a partner of the NEVC, BC International (BCI), is currently constructing an ethanol production plant in Louisiana that will use sugar cane waste to produce ethanol. Additionally, BCI is considering the establishment of ethanol production facilities in California that would use the waste hulls from rice growers and wood waste from the forrest industry to produce ethanol. Energy crops such as perennial switch grasses, timothy, and other high-output/low-input crops will be used in the future.

Current research prepared by Argonne National Laboratory (a U.S. Department of Energy Laboratory), indicates a 38% gain in the overall energy input/output equation for the corn-to-ethanol process. That is, if 100 BTUs of energy is used to plant corn, harvest the crop, transport it, etc., 138 BTUs of energy is available in the fuel ethanol. Corn yields and processing technologies have improved significantly over the past 20 years and they continue to do so, making ethanol production less and less energy intensive.
 
In the future, ethanol will be produced from waste products or "energy crops." In fact, a partner of the NEVC, BC International (BCI), is currently constructing an ethanol production plant in Louisiana that will use sugar cane waste to produce ethanol.

That is the future NOT NOW!!!
So, how do they refine it now??
Electricity, usually generated by fossil fuels.
Allthebest, c4c5
 
c4c5specialist said:
Hi there,
Well, you should NOT use E85 in Corvette, as of this time.
The corrosiveness of ethanol demands different injectors, pump, fuel system and evaporative systems.
Not to mention that the fuel will yield less horsepower, fuel mileage and costs more per gallon.
There are alot of people who thing E85 is the wave of the future.
I do NOT. The cost of refining E85 in fossil fuels more than outweighs the usage of E85. So, you will basically be using 1.7 gallons of gasoline for every 1 gallon of Ethanol used.
So, in essence, you are creating more greenhouse gases, just to produce the ethanol, never mind actually burning just the fuel you would normally use.
JMO, c4c5

:J I agree... I just had a class and the instructor mentioned some points about E85. Basically he said if the tree huggers want to use it I'm not going to stop them since I'll see more cars in the shop... I think mainly he was talking about people using it in cars that were not designed for it... Again he only mentioned a couple things about E85 one was I you get a couple miles per gallon less with it especially on city driving.. highway only a slight difference.

Non related to E85 but to fuel.. he also told us a story about a lingenfelter vette that came in the customer said they tried and experimental fuel, it was a crank and no start.. he took a sample and sent it off for testing they used sometype of air plane fuel (probably becuase they thought higher octane) in this car he said it was purple.... I guess it ran for a short time on it.. all the O2 sensors had to be replaced due to contamination.. he said that there were crystals on the sensors..
-=Rick
 
66NICK98 said:
From the website:


Does it take more energy to produce a gallon of ethanol than the energy we get out of it?

Response:

No. This has been a common misconception of the ethanol industry, that it takes more energy to make ethanol than is available to the final consumer. Remember, ethanol is produced from plant matter, today dominated by corn, wheat, potatoes, sorgum, etc. Plants grow through the use of energy provided by the sun and are a renewable resources. In the future, ethanol will be produced from waste products or "energy crops." In fact, a partner of the NEVC, BC International (BCI), is currently constructing an ethanol production plant in Louisiana that will use sugar cane waste to produce ethanol. Additionally, BCI is considering the establishment of ethanol production facilities in California that would use the waste hulls from rice growers and wood waste from the forrest industry to produce ethanol. Energy crops such as perennial switch grasses, timothy, and other high-output/low-input crops will be used in the future.

Current research prepared by Argonne National Laboratory (a U.S. Department of Energy Laboratory), indicates a 38% gain in the overall energy input/output equation for the corn-to-ethanol process. That is, if 100 BTUs of energy is used to plant corn, harvest the crop, transport it, etc., 138 BTUs of energy is available in the fuel ethanol. Corn yields and processing technologies have improved significantly over the past 20 years and they continue to do so, making ethanol production less and less energy intensive.

This Argonne Nat'l Lab report, govt funded, is just one of many. They all seem to vary from a small net gain (such as this Argonne report) to a small net loss. To me this says that the benefits are minimal at best. Then you have to back off and ask questions about the impact on the environment, on farming in general. For example, estimates of the total acreage we would need to use to raise enough corn to make a significant impact are horrendous. There are lots of issues here to look at in addition to the energy balance. But the energy balance is certainly no big gainer. Thinking people will have to pause and reflect on what is really going on here.
 

Corvette Forums

Not a member of the Corvette Action Center?  Join now!  It's free!

Help support the Corvette Action Center!

Supporting Vendors

Dealers:

MacMulkin Chevrolet - The Second Largest Corvette Dealer in the Country!

Advertise with the Corvette Action Center!

Double Your Chances!

Our Partners

Back
Top Bottom