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The Facts of Ethanol Blends Beyond 10% Source
In addition to anecdotal evidence from motorists who have reported successful use of blends beyond 10% ethanol in standard vehicles, scientific evidence is mounting that non-flex-fuel autos may be able to operate well on blends beyond the E10 that automakers currently certify.
In addition to a 1999 study on the use of E30 in standard autos and a 2006 ethanol fuel economy study, the "Optimal Ethanol Blend-Level Investigation" found that the vehicles tested operated well on blends beyond 10%. The "optimal blend" research also found the belief about ethanol's mileage penalty (that as the fuel's ethanol content goes up, the fuel economy would go down due to ethanol's lower BTU value) not to be true. Instead, the pilot research suggests that there is an "optimal" blend of ethanol and gasoline -- likely E20 or E30 -- at which vehicles get better mileage than predicted, and in some cases even better mileage than gasoline. E20 offered a 15% mileage improvement over gasoline in one of the four vehicles, and E30 offered a 1% mileage increase in two of the vehicles.
View a press release, the study's Executive Summary, or download the full report of the 2007 "Optimal Ethanol Blend-Level Investigation."
The State of Minnesota is conducting research on E20 to prepare for its statewide ethanol requirement to change from 10% to 20% in 2013. Its research, completed in early 2008, shows that E20 presents no materials compatibility issues for today's vehicle fleet and fuel dispensing infrastructure. No drivability concerns were raised in the year-long testing. View a press release or download the executive summary of the Minnesota research.
In 2006, Lake Area Technical Institute in Watertown, South Dakota, conducted research on a standard, non-flex-fuel vehicle that had run almost exclusively on E85 for more than 100,000 miles. The engine of the 2001 Chevrolet Tahoe was torn down to examine the E85's long-term impact on the engine components. Not only did the engine not show any adverse effects from the use of E85, some of the engine components were in even better condition than a comparable vehicle that had run on gasoline. View a brief video outlining the research findings at www.ethanol.org/video.
Reading List: "Exploring Ethanol Blends Beyond Ten Percent" (Ethanol Today Magazine, June 2007)