Well since we all don't have Flex Fuel I wonder how hard it is to make one a Flex Fuel. Anybody know?

 

I've never even seen E85 in FL. Not that I've been looking for it...

 

Manteca is not Nor Cal, IMO. That's central California. I went right through your damn town at Christmastime. On my way home from Redding as a matter of fact. I suppose it could be Nor Cal if you live in Tijuana, lol.


My mom lives in Redding. How odd. I hate that town

You buy your truck at Crown Motors?

EDIT: They don't sell the FFV equipped F-150 in California or any other "green" state for that matter. So since they don't sell the vehicle, I would imagine that you can't use E85 in California. Hence the reason why there's only 4 stations in the whole state that carry it.

 

Isn't the Ethanol more harmful to the engine regarding residue deposits after combusiton?? Or the biproduct is sludge? just something I had heard through the grapevine. Anyone got the REAL scoop?? thanks

 

I think the problem with this fuel will be that unless it becomes widely available, it will fail. Here's why: Are you going to buy this type of vehicle, because the fuel is available in your area? Now go out of town. Are you going to use all of your fuel to look for another station that sells this kind of fuel? NJ does not have any stations and the closest one is 1000 miles away. Well it doesn't take a math major to see that I am not going to make to Pittsburg to refuel.

Now I am going to date myself here. Remember when deisel could only be found at truck stops, until more cars were produced and sold using deisel. Until alot of (what ever kind) alternative fuel vehicles are widely sold, then that fuel will not become sucessful.

 

Hi, I've been reading the forums for years and this is a subject that I know quite a bit about so I'd thought I'd share what I know (There's a plant 10 miles from my house that's making 50,000 gallons a day, I know investors, workers at the plant, owners of a station, and users of it. I have been thinking about purchasing a FFV F150 myself also).

First, I do not see it failing. Here in Iowa E-85 is fairly easy to find. We have two stations in our town of ~8,000 people. E-85 is selling for ~$1.86 while regular\E10 is around $2.19-$2.29. That is enough to overcome the lower fuel mileage which from accounts I've heard is anywhere between 5% and 20% depending on the vehicles purchased. I have not heard anyone getting 30% less mileage. I do not see gas going down much. If gas was $1.25 again, then yes E85 has it's work cut out for it. But i haven't seen that since my college days. The FFV option is a $0.00 option on the F150's and if you can't find E85 you can still put regular gas in it, so it's not quite the same problem as searching for diesel.

This is also a growong technology. There are all kind's of things going on to make it more efficient that will make it able to compete with gas at a lower cost. Our plant is talking about selling to C02 emmisions for making dry ice. The waste from producing E85 is sold to farmers for high energy feed. All that adds up to making a cheaper product.

Converting your vehicle is not worth the cost. Trade for a FFV. E85 is an alcohol, and it will corrode parts of the fuel system if it's not compatible. Even the pumps that dispense E85 have to be upgraded to handle the alcohol.
Tht being said, I know people burning ~E45 by mixing without any short term affects. Who knows what the long term affects will be. They're braver than I am.

All that being said, I'm not sure if the economics work for those of you on the east and west coasts. Who knows where the nearest production plant is.

And we'll never get to a point where the entire country is running on ethanol. But every little bit helps, right? And there are some problems to think about. What happens to the cost of ethanol with 2-3 years of a widespread drought? What happens to the price of corn-fed beef with a significant portion of corn going to ethanol production? Lots of unknowns.

Hope this helps!