Recapping My Decade of Using and Experimenting With Alternative Fuels +VIDEO

by Marc J. Rauch (The Auto Channel) ... For a guy who grew up primarily in Brooklyn and Queens, farming was as alien to me as the dark side of the moon. Nevertheless, the story was riveting because it presented economic possibilities that made my head spin: replacing foreign petroleum oil fuels with domestically produced fuels from crops...WOW!

After the September 11, 2001 attacks and the dramatic rise in the price of petroleum oil fuels, The Auto Channel began examining alternative fuels in greater detail - not just Bob and I, our long time business associate Mark Fulmer and some of our correspondents also caught the alt fuel bug.

As I have often written in previous articles, although we were all well aware of smog and airborne health problems, our interest in alternative fuels centered on energy independence and the wondrous economic potential of alternative fuels.

We looked for additional opportunities to test drive realistic alternative fuel vehicles: Vehicles powered by compressed natural gas, hydrogen, propane, electric, and ethanol. Obviously, our ownership of The Auto Channel opened the door for us to do quite a lot of this.

In addition, even when not test driving press fleet flex-fuel (ethanol) vehicles, I experimented with using higher blends of ethanol-gasoline in hundreds of non-flex fuel vehicles I drove. When traveling and driving rental cars, I did this a lot. What I discovered was that every non-flex fuel gasoline-powered vehicle I drove could use high levels of ethanol-gasoline blends with little or no change in vehicle performance. And, of course, no damage was ever done to the vehicles. I splash-blended E20, E25, E30, E35, E40, and so on by first pumping in E85 and then topping off with E10.

One of the best aspects of using ethanol is that nearly all gasoline-powered vehicles on the road, and all brand new gasoline vehicles, can run on ethanol or ethanol-gasoline blends without any engine modifications needed.

On multiple occasions I've related how I fueled up on every ethanol-gasoline blend from E10 to E85, with the only problem being that the "check engine" light might illuminate. I could save up to $1.00 per gallon of fuel by mixing E85 with standard E10 fuel. I never experienced any engine or performance problems related to the use of ethanol.

In fact, the single most noteworthy experience I had with my 2002 non-flex fuel Ford Taurus was the first time I took the vehicle for a smog test after using high ethanol-gasoline blends for about two years. The measured PPM results were an astounding "0" for CO (carbon monoxide), "0" for NO (nitrogen oxide), and "1" for HC (hydrocarbon). In other words, the high use of ethanol fuel made my car super clean. If the general public followed my example all future emissions' goals would be met today, not in 2030 or 2040...right now. And consumers would save money, too.

All that has to happen is for the president of the U.S. to publicly acknowledge that high ethanol-gasoline blends are safe for all modern gasoline-powered passenger vehicles (mid-1990's and newer), and to direct the EPA to remove all cautionary notices to the contrary. A move like this would allow America to stop importing all foreign petroleum oil for fuel, make us energy independent, and be a great financial boon to the U.S. economy.

In conducting my own personal tests I did what few if any other automotive reporters have done: put my money where my mouth is. More importantly, in all the online skirmishes I've engaged in with alternative fuel haters - or as I've often referred to them, gasoline whores - I've never come across one person who spoke from personal experience...they only quote the lies told to them by the oil industry. On many occasions I've asked them if they've ever tried using a high ethanol-gasoline blend in their personal vehicles or rental cars, but they never respond. It would be the simplest thing to do to prove their claims that ethanol is bad by just renting a car for a few days and using ethanol. But they don't do it.

Next generation internal combustion engines will require higher ethanol-gasoline blends to meet harmful emission mitigation goals, while allowing the vehicles to meet performance specifications. This will mean E20 to E50 or higher. The oil industry will have no option but to acquiesce, and probably wind up investing in ethanol plants to stay in control. It'll be fun to see how they change their tune and start singing the praises of ethanol, just as Standard Oil used to do in the United Kingdom in the 1920's (a fact that's little known to American consumers).

As for me, I'm moving on, too. I've now traded in my non-flex fuel Ford Taurus for a late model flex-fuel Dodge Grand Caravan, and I'm a couple days away from retiring my CNG Dodge Ram van. Needless to say, I'll continue to write and speak about the benefits of ethanol, and my testing of ethanol blends will now focus on which level of ethanol-gasoline blends gives my new van the best and most economical performance (many people say that E40 or E50 will be best...we'll see, and I'll let you know). READ MORE