ACE’s Lamberty Discusses the Benefits of E15 for Retailers

by Matt Thompson (Ethanol Producer Magazine) ... American Coalition for Ethanol’s Senior Vice President Ron Lamberty, discusses some of the myths surrounding E15, as well as its benefits for retailers, consumers and the environment.

The biggest difference is if you add 5 percent more ethanol to a gallon of E10, you do a couple of things. One, you actually lower the Reid vapor pressure (RVP), and lower Reid vapor pressure has generally been the thing that EPA has done that has reduced pollution the most. E15 has a slightly lower Reid vapor pressure than E10, and that would be a positive. And number two would be, you’re replacing 5 percent more of gasoline, which is the more polluting fuel than ethanol is.

… When you hear people just sort of matter-of-factly saying, “Yeah, but E15 pollutes more than E10,” there is only one way that they could say such a thing, and that would be if they’re taking results of a fuel study that basically changed the fuel that the ethanol was blended with. Although the ethanol was the same, when the test was done on E15, they assumed that the oil industry would put in more junk … and then that would mean that the emissions would be worse. So essentially what they’re saying is, “If we do 5 percent more, then the oil companies will just take that opportunity to pollute even more.” … When … station owners hear that little nugget of information tossed out, that’s what it’s about.

What [the oil industry says] is, “Most of the cars out there were not designed with E15 in mind, or their warranties did not cover E15.” … The reason that’s disingenuous is the average warranty on cars in the United States is either three or four years … and of cars that still have warranties, around three-fourths to 80 percent of them are covered for E15.

… The bottom line is, if somebody had had a warranty voided by [E15], we don’t know that person, because the oil industry and anybody else who’s trying to get rid of ethanol would have made them their poster child. They’d be on every bus and every billboard and every commercial, talking about how ethanol destroyed their car, and there’s just no such thing.

About five to seven years ago, most of the terminals in the U.S. went to handling what’s called a V-grade, and it’s a sub-octane. It’s an 84 octane gasoline. …The fuel that’s blended with ethanol is not a fuel that you could use by itself. … So, if we take 84 octane gas and add 10 percent ethanol, it’s an 87 octane unleaded. If we add 15 percent ethanol it’s a little above 88, but it’s definitely 88. So, it’s a higher octane.

The way that we’re hoping the automakers will eventually use [ethanol], is that because it is a higher octane and because it does resist knock longer, then they could make higher compression, more efficient engines. … That’s where it’s an advantage to automakers. If they’re going to make more and more efficient vehicles, they need more and more efficient fuel. And you go all the way back to your first question, the fuel that will burn more completely and leave less stuff behind is going to be the one that’s going to be more efficient.

The other thing these station owners have thrown at them is that there’s this huge expense [to add E15], and that’s just not true. … They’re being told $300,000, $400,000 for E15 and frankly, it’s $3,000 or $4,000 for some. Some wouldn’t have much of an expense at all, other than changing decals.

You can market it as high octane, you can market it as clean fuel, you can market it as domestic, all-American fuel.

The simplest answer to it is … they should do it is because it’s a better fuel that actually costs less, and it can give them an advantage. READ MORE

Excerpt from Ethanol Producer Magazine: Retailers who are already using the Unleaded88 branding have seen positive results, O’Brien said. He indicated that E15 sales have increased for those who use the branding. “In fact, when E15 is put in the right scenario we’ve seen it be the dominant fuel at the dispenser. And that’s pretty well known in the retail industry right now, is just how dominant E15 can be from a sales standpoint.,” he said.

Beyond just providing branding, Growth Energy can help retailers with regulations and registration, determining what types of equipment upgrades may be needed, or locate funding sources for undertaking those upgrades. One of those funding sources is the Prime the Pump program.

“There is, at times, Prime the Pump funding available for the larger initiatives that cut across multiple states and there are some basic criteria that the retailer has to meet to become eligible for it, and ultimately the Prime the Pump board decides who they give grants to and under what terms, and things like that,” O’Brien said. There may also be grants available from state governments or corn grower associations, which Growth Energy can help retailers identify. READ MORE