Steven Cole Smith: Keep Ethanol in the Fuel Mix, GM Exec Says
(Orlando Sentinel) …(Tom) Stephens, who was in Orlando last week to speak at the National Ethanol Conference, is vice chairman of global product operations for General Motors. He knows as well as anybody that our gasoline supply won’t last forever, and we’re long past the point where we should be concentrating our efforts on weaning the U.S. from our dependence on oil.
…He sees the solution, as do many in his business, as a lot of little solutions: Better mileage for current products, plus hybrids, electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cells, biodiesel. And, more immediately, ethanol.
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There are about 7.5 million cars and trucks on the road in the U.S. that are “flex fuel,” meaning they can run on gasoline or E85, and GM has built about 4 million of them. But Stephens points out that 90 percent of the people who own those vehicles don’t have an E85 pump within their ZIP code.
…(I)it costs more to make a flex-fuel vehicle, and that GM is eating most of that price increase itself. READ MORE
