What kind of gas do you put in your PriusC

Easton, Royal Front & Ranson are your closest listed stations selling 100% ethanol-free gasoline. Large cities have severe restrictions on 100% ethanol-free gasoline. Ethanol in gasoline does control nitrous oxide, altho some other pollutants are marginally raised.
Again, search closely for marinas, airports & farm co-ops who have exemptions to use 100% ethanol-free gasoline.

I've heard about one restriction(true or not?), such as in Oregon, 100% ethanol-free gasoline must be sold in gas cans. Anyhow, I plan to fill up on 100% gasoline in my car's tank & carry gas cans before entering Oregon.

 

I believe some marinas here in Oregon do sell
non ethanol gas as most marine gas engine do not
do well with ethanol.

Also, some premium gas pumps state "no ethanol"
so even though premium is not needed in the
Prius it another option.

But, Oregon for motor vehicle fuel is stated to be
100 % (10% ethanol gasoline) sold in all
gas stations.I am sure there are certain
exemptions.

Regular pure gas does add at least 3 mpg or so to your
total mpg over 10% Ethanol, don't let anyone tell
you there is no difference.

 

The problem is if the non ethanol gas costs 20 cents or more extra per gallon it erases the advantage, except to post higher mpg numbers here!

 

Economically, the economic price break can be 30+ cents(100% ethanol-free gasoline more than 10% ethanol blends), depending how much greater your mpg increase. However, searching can often find stations selling 100% ethanol-free gasoline for an excellent price, if you do have a number of stations selling 100% gasoline.

Beyond that, engines are smoother, quieter, AND have more power, needing less downshifting while ascending hills. If you use your engine near its performance limits with 10% ethanol blends, you strain your engine to its limits unnecessarily. Also, using 100% ethanol-free gasoline is like you have a bigger gas tank, without paying for the extra gasoline OR installing a bigger gas tank in your vehicle(I love staying away from gas stations). The fact that gasoline engines perform best with 100% ethanol-free & such engines are not processing ethanol properly, does show that the ethanol industry & the fed gov't has scammed the U.S. & even Canada. People using ethanol in their gasoline engines have taken setbacks in 4,5 or 6 areas of significant engine performance.

 

Completely agree. Tho I don't drive a Prius, I keep accurate records of my previous 10% ethanol blends mpg & now my present use of 100% ethanol-free gasoline. My 24 year old Ford Festiva increased its mpg from 42.1mpg to its present 100% ethanol-free gasoline mileage of 45.5 mpg, with a high of 57.8mpg.

 

Yes, I see you have a number of stations selling ethanol-free gasoline, except most are probably higher cost unnecessarily higher octane fuel. In Canandaigua, NY there is a station selling 87 octane gasoline.

 

When the EPA conducts the MPG test,
guess what, they use pure regular gas
with no ethanol.

Isn't that crazy, here is the EPA with
whistles and banners promoting the
good benefits of Ethanol in our gas
and the EPA does not use it in conducting
the EPA MPG test.

This is unfair for the U.S. citizens as 90% of the driving public
can not buy 100% pure gas or its expensive and
difficult to do so....

 

I made the mistake of putting a tank of Arco gas in my C the other day. Not only did I drop 3-5mpg but the car becomes so much less enjoyable to drive with bad gas in the tank cause you can feel it bogging down constantly. So much of my mpg depends on finding juuust the right throttle position to keep the engine's momentum going with a light stream of gas. Throw some gas in that doesn't burn as efficiently and that window virtually disappears and leaves me feeling frustrated and mashing the pedal down way more than I normally need to. Never again.

 

Agree with you.

The EPA uses 100% gasoline to 'cut down the variables' of mpg determinations. With those words, the EPA tips off that ethanol blending into 100% pure gas is 'variable' from the goal of 10% ethanol blending.

In addition to my increased mpg, smoothness, quietness, better response & more power observations using 100% pure gasoline, my accurate line-graph records indicate that tank to tank mpg calculations ARE MORE VARIABLE using 10% ethanol blends than using 100% pure gasoline.

 

Never thought I had too much trouble with Arco...... until I discovered how superior 100% pure gasoline is compared to ANY BRAND 10% ethanol blend. As for you, the nearest 100% pure gasoline is in Salome or Lake Havasu City, AZ. Go to pure-gas.org to find them on their great zoomable map. If you're ever in those parts, drive into one the stations with your 10% ethanol blend tank nearly empty. Fill up on 100% pure gasoline. Your engine will thank you. You will thank yourself. When you return to California, fill up in AZ & even fill & carry 2 five gallon cans of 100% pure gasoline with you. Better yet. Move to an area with stations selling 100% pure gasoline.

 

...I am not aware that ethanol (E10) has any beneficial effect on NOx. In cars without catalytic converters (decades ago) the ethanol blends reduced CO emissions. Today it is used mainly to create jobs, IMHO.

 

Let's see...ethanol, 1 creates jobs in the US, 2 reduces foreign oil imports, 3 reduces emissions...Oh, I thought there was something wrong with the stuff.

 

#2 is suspect, at least for the way we make ethanol in this country. The oil you save by burning ethanol is consumed producing the ethanol.

Tom

 

First, ethanol burned in gasoline engines creates extra jobs because ethanol is inefficiently processed in gasoline engines. Ethanol needs actual ethanol engines with much higher compression ratios to give efficient mpg.

Second, ethanol doesn't reduce foreign oil imports. Gasoline engines lose 5-8%(some people report more losses) mpg when using 10% ethanol blends compared to 100% pure gasoline. Since ethanol actually takes much oil to produce ethanol, foreign oil imports are INCREASED compared to using 100% pure gasoline in gasoline-designed engines.

Third, as I have stated, only nitrous oxides are reduced. Other emissions are increased...... specially considering the 8% to 5% decrease in actual mpg due to 10% ethanol blends.

Fourth, you should try 100% pure gasoline. Your engine will thank you. You will thank yourself. Go to pure-gas.org to find addresses, details & a great zoomable map of the minority of 5200 stations(20 in every 350) that sell 100% pure gasoline. Not many in New York, except for northern NY state. I note a new station in East Islip, tho.

 

The 3-way catalytic converter is wonderful. However, it does its job of emission reductions by elevating burner can temperatures, further increasing the burning process & reducing bad emissions. The problem with increasing temperatures is that nitrous oxides are increased. Ethanol was finally chosen, after other additives didn't work. Ethanol burning decreases temperatures helping to decrease nitrous oxides.

As reasons have been stated above, ethanol has its own problems.

 

Lite- ...how about a reference? I am not sure why you are giving credit to ethanol for reducing NOx. As you state, on balance it probably increases smog precursors a little bit (increased volatility, etc).

 

I thought the 3-way converter reduces CO NOx and HC

 

It take about 2 gallons of diesel fuel to
make one gallon of Ethanol.

2 gallons of diesel equals about 260,000 BTU's

1 gallon of Ethanol equals 67,000 BtU

 

points well taken...initially I thought local governments like NYC demanded 10% ethanol to reduce emissions...and in a place like NY or LA, it is an issue. But if it can be proven the stuff doesn't work, it should be dropped.

But you know, so much of the GREEN effort can be criticized as wasteful and more expensive. For example, in parts of NYC, it takes three garbage trucks to pick up the garbage on local streets. One for regular garbage, one for paper and cardboard, and one for cans, bottles, and the like. Years ago, only one big, noisy, smelly truck ran up your street, now there are three burning rubber, gas and oil. And instead of taking it to the nearest "safe" landfill, we pay for an unspecified amount of transportation to ship it to Virginia or some other crazy place.

So, especially as Prius drivers, we should all be used to the concept of paying more to be green. As Kermit the Frog said, "It's not easy being green".

 

I saw studies conducted a while ago that showed that ethanol was energy-neutral or very slightly positive. One study, IIRC, was from Cornell. I don't recall who conducted the others. None of them were so energy-negative as the example you gave, however. What study was your example sourced from?