The question is: how's the increased availability of ethenol gonna help us w/ the dependence on oil/cost of gasoline/ and are you gonna run it in your scooter? :-? spyder
Spyder, for quite awhile here in the cornbelt, we have had 10% ethanol at many stations throughout Illinois. Today it's become almost impossible to find a station that sells alcohol-free gas in this state. So, I haven't had much choice but to run it in the scoot, or the weed eater, for that matter. The owner's manual for our bikes states that gas/ethanol blends can be used as long as the ethanol content doesn't exceed 10%, and so far, I've seen no ill effects from using it.
Regarding the E-85, and to go along with what Jerry said about the cost difference, I found it quite amusing that one week one of the local TV stations here ran a story about the E-85 converted vehicles that a local municipality had purchased. In that story they were touting the benefits of E-85 (cleaner burning, cheaper per gallon than gas, comes from corn not dinosaurs), but never once mentioned the detrimental impact on MPG of E-85. Then, about a week later, they ran another story on the same channel, about how the price per gallon was only about $0.20 cheaper than regular unleaded at the stations here that offered it, and oh, by the way, your MPG is 10-20%
worse with E-85. LOL! Oops, let's look at the BIG PICTURE, next time, OK? That's about a 7% savings in per gallon fuel costs, but a 10-20% decrease in efficiency. Yes, you're still saving gasoline by burning 85% alcohol, but if it costs the consumer more out of their pocket to do so, how are you going to get them to make the switch?!? They'll keep burning GAS if it's cheaper, overall, to do so.