Ethanol Gas Emerging as Cheap Gas Alternative for Those with Compatible Vehicles
by Andrew Haubner (CBS Sacramento) At certain gas stations across Sacramento, one can find gas prices above $6, but tucked away on smaller signs is flex fuel, which is being offered at as much as $2 fewer per gallon.
What is E-85 gasoline? Simply put, it is a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, and it’s priced significantly lower than normal gasoline currently because the price of corn is trading below the price of petroleum.
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But can you run it in your car?
In the mid-2000s, Chevy and Ford created many cars that were known as flex fuel vehicles. A Ford F-150 or a Chevy Tahoe, for example, are E-85-compatible vehicles.
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At UC Davis, Colin Murphy leads the Low Carbon Fuel Policy Research Initiative and is the deputy director for the UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy. He says that E-85 is a bridge fuel, of sorts. It can be an alternative to fossil fuels and petroleum gasoline but isn’t a be-all-end-all solution to impacting climate change.
“It’s one of the tools that we have and one of the tools that we can give even more benefit that we have right now,” Murphy says. READ MORE
Ethanol Keeps Climbing as Gasoline Prices Stay High — Futures prices have outpaced crude oil in the second quarter (Wall Street Journal)
Ag Report: Examining ethanol as gas prices remain high (Spectrum News)
Excerpt from Wall Street Journal: Ethanol prices have risen steadily this year, boosted by a Biden administration mandate to blend more of the biofuel into gasoline and some of the highest U.S. consumer inflation in decades.
The price of ethanol, the corn-based fuel that is a common gasoline additive, has risen 14% so far this quarter, outpacing crude oil. The thinly traded Chicago Ethanol Platts futures contract, the industry benchmark, settled Thursday at $2.81 a gallon. In late November, it reached a record of $3.45. READ MORE
