Ethanol is merely a stop-gap measure until large scale hydrogen production can be realized. Ethanol can reduce our dependence on oil for the short term, but it comes at a cost. Not only does it raise the cost of food stuffs, the extra crops required consume large quantities of fresh water and will result is depleted soil driven by high profit single crop farming. If crops fail, then you could see gigantic fuel price increases that make current oil prices seem cheap.

 

For some reason, I have always had the impression that E85 was suppose to give better fuel mileage.

It wwould be interesting to see what results you would get with half E85 and half regular fuel.

 

I have always heard that e85 will get less mileage that regular fuel, but the lower price will offset the decreased mileage. Does anyone know whether or not e85 actually produces more power than regular fuel. It has a higher octane level, which would make one believe it gives more power and possibly better economy.

 

I wish I could remeber the exact numbers, but there was a guy who ran his truck at the drag strip on gasoline a few times and then compared to E-85 fuel a few times. The E-85 1/4 mile times were slightly faster. He could be blowing smoke, but I tend to believe him.

E-85 does have higher octane, so it's not suprising.

 

Hydrogen may play a big part in our future vehicles, but like many other alternative fuel vehicles. Hydrogen fuel cells are very expensive to produce and require extremely high safety standards. Have you ever heard of a hydrogen bomb?

Not only are the hydrogen fuel cells expensive to produce, but a lot of R&E goes into the vehicles that carry them. Plus, the logistics of testing a vehicle w/ a hydrogen fuel cell get complicated too. Ford has performed internal crash tests with hydrogen fuel vehicles and when they do the building has to be evacuated except for required personnel and the fire department has to be present w/ hazmat.

 

man i wish i lived where you guys did.. $3.59 out here for E85..
with a stock 01 f-150 XLT offroad edition i'd say im getting about 14-15 mpg with about a stop sign on every corner..0-30 not very fuel efficient