My first experience with ethanol additive. It was an accident
As much as I support green car technology, the secret truth is that the car I drive runs on good old gasoline. Since it's a Honda Civic HX with a manual transmission, the vehicle gets over 40 mpg in real world usage, and sometimes over 50 mpg on the highways. Plus, I use a bicycle for in-town transportation, so I think I'm doing all right. On a recent road trip from Georgia to Michigan, though, I finally joined the green car movement. It was only for one tank of gas and it was accidental.
During a stop at a gas station (a Pilot, I think) near the Big South Fork recreation area in Tennessee, we filled up the tank. We almost drove away without noticing a little sticker on the pump that said something like "Fuel may contain up to 10% ethanol". Sorry I don't have a picture of it. While the sticker could technically mean that there is zero ethanol in the gas, I'm assuming that the fuel was E3 or maybe E5. Either way, it's nice to see this sort of thing being introduced to consumers without any fanfare. The Civic's unmodified engine ran just fine on it, too.
During a stop at a gas station (a Pilot, I think) near the Big South Fork recreation area in Tennessee, we filled up the tank. We almost drove away without noticing a little sticker on the pump that said something like "Fuel may contain up to 10% ethanol". Sorry I don't have a picture of it. While the sticker could technically mean that there is zero ethanol in the gas, I'm assuming that the fuel was E3 or maybe E5. Either way, it's nice to see this sort of thing being introduced to consumers without any fanfare. The Civic's unmodified engine ran just fine on it, too.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
RJ 11:56AM (5/10/2006)
The concept of reducing oil dependency is great, but we need new engine designs that use different fuels, not an additive that both reduces mileage and increases costs. The only ones benefitting from that are the corn manufacturers.
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Sam D. 1:08PM (5/10/2006)
From my understanding almost all gas contains ethanol. The 93 octane (a.k.a. "Supreme") has always contained 10-20% of an alernative to gas. In past, at least here in MA., it was MTBE, which is being phased out. Where you used to see "This gas contains MTBE" stickers, now you are seeing "Contains Ethanol" instead. It's a simple drop in replacement for MTBE. At least, that's my understanding, I may be wrong though.
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Keith 1:25PM (5/10/2006)
10 percent ethanol is no big deal. It is used to raise the octane of gasoline to a premium grade.
Soon all gasoline in Canada will have at least 5 percent ethanol for regular.
If you have an old car with a carburettor, you could have problems. The ethanol will damage the fuel float in carburettor which could lead to flooding and a consequent fire. The black plastic floats are the problem. Also the gas tank float could be affected. Vehicles made after 1992 should be okay.
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Scott K 1:34PM (5/10/2006)
Um,...I grew up in Southern Illinois, lived in Missouri for a time, and also central Indiana and can count on one hand the number of times the gas pump I was filling up at _didn't_ have the 'contains up to 10% ethanol' sticker.
Not really news (or new, for that matter).
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h2ofrolic 3:46PM (5/10/2006)
Maybe not news in Illinois, Missouri or further out in the Square States, but Ethanol mixes have not been common on the East Coast. I just bought some for the first time in Virginia.
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Clarence 9:26PM (5/10/2006)
I have been buying ethanol enhanced gasoline in NC for years--maybe a decade, at the local "Hot Spot" convenience store in and around Asheville, NC.
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Eliot Phillips 10:57PM (5/10/2006)
I live next to an ethanol plant... but seriously here's the story in Nebraska: octane ratings 87,89,91 All of the 89 is E10 gas and almost always cheaper than the 87. It's been that way for nearly 10 years here.
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EJ Baldwin 9:11AM (5/20/2006)
We recently used what we knew was ethanol added gasoline and got better milage out of our Saturn. We usually get about 290 to 300 miles on a tank of fuel. This time we got 320 miles. Since my husband is always careful about topping off the tank (while also making sure he doesn't spill any) I think this is significant.
We will know for certain after a couple more tanks.
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