Has anyone got better MPG with ethenol?

um I doubt that. less energy in ethenol than gasoline.

 

Where did you hear that? You should see a small drop in mileage from 10% ethanol. Pure ethanol has about 70% the energy density of gasoline, so you would take a big hit with that, assuming you could run your car on it.

Tom

 

I just completed a x-country, 7400 mile, trip in my 06 Prius and every time I fueled up with 10 percent ethenol it cost me at least 2 to 3 miles to the gallon.

 

I thought I read someplace, maybe in the owners manual that we are NOT supposed to use Gasoline that has a high concentration of Ethanol as it will ruin the engine??, The stuff that is over 85% Ethanol, that those Chevy Flex-Fuel cars use, I thought we cannot use that stuff??

 

You can't, not without doing damage. The 10% stuff is okay, but don't go much higher than that. A few brave (stupid?) PriusChatters have experimented without immediate catastrophic problems, but I wouldn't want to do it in my car.

Tom

 

I always lose around 2-3 mpg with E10.

Nick

 

I gained MPG with ethanol. Of course it wasn't in the gas, it was in my beer.

Story:

I had a beer. An hour later (or more) I drove home. Since it was a holiday weekend, and I did have a beer (but far from DUI), I drove slower. That allowed me to increase my MPGs!
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So the moral is, ethanol in gas is bad, but ethanol in belly is good.

 

I saw a 6 MPG reduction in the indicated mileage per the display on a tank of BP E10. I just hope that it settles down to as little as a 2 or 3 MPG reduction.

 

Ethanol pretty much sucks. I had been averaging around 52 mpg using Shell gas. I was forced to gas up at Wawa last week... So far I am only getting 47 on the MFD. Buying cheap gas doesn't save $$.

 

Sadly, we no longer have any stations selling real gas. E10 everywhere. Figure a 2.5% decrease in mileage.

The first stations around here that were selling E10 (puny sign on the pump) had the same price as those selling real gas so your $/mile went up if you bought it.

To put it in equivalent $/mile: Real gas at $4/gallon = E10 at $3.90/gallon. Plus, E10 basically has a 5 cent per gallon subsidy to the fuel blender (51 cents per gallon of ethanol, could drop to 45 cents if the farm bill passes). Thus the REAL additional cost of E10 vs real gas (both at $4/gallon) is 15 cents/gallon - 10 from your pocket and 5 from the money available to repair the roads.

I'll never hit a lifetime avg of 50 MPG now Toyota, gimme that 40 mile plug-in Prius!!!

 

corn based ethanol will cost you a few MPG, switch grass would gain you a few MPG, why were still doing the corn thing is beyond me ($$$ for the politicians, hopefully Obama will straighten this out )

 

Not me. I've currently got my first tank of gas that I know is E10. I usually get gas at Costco where the pumps indicate that the case may be E10 as opposed to a number of stations where they dropped the "may" language a while back and just tell you that it is E10. Based on what I'm seeing now, I think it's safe to say that Costco is basically doing CYA and that what they're selling is not E10.

Well this last time I had to get gas at one of the stations where they make no bones about it, they're selling E10. It's no cheaper than anywhere else, but I sure did a number on my FE. I'm looking at 4-5 mpg lower than what I've been averaging.

I guess there's nothing wrong with 48-49 mpg, but five in the first position was sooo satisfying.

While I'm no expert on the various running modes, I do notice that the car is much harder to get into the modes (as determined by the Energy screen) that I recognize as being really efficient. Specifically, I'm thinking about the one where when the speed is over 42ish that enable you to hold the speed with only very light pressure on the accelerator and maintain a reasonably high instantaneous mpg on the display (in the 50-60 range.)

It seems equally hard for the ECU to find this mode. When I turn on the cruise control, I don't see it either. I get very short bursts of it, but not the sustained runs.

 

No, ethanol is ethanol, unless it is adulterated in some way. From a miles per gallon standpoint it doesn't matter how you get the ethanol. You could distill it from fine champagne and it would still deliver than same reduced mileage.

Now if you are talking about the overall efficiency of producing that ethanol, that's a different issue.

Tom

 

I improved my fuel consumption when I switched to E10 in my Camry from 9L/100km to about 8L/100km. This was because I was able to drive in 5th gear in the metro area rather than 4th because of the higher octane rating.

In my Prius I see no difference between E10 and unleaded.

 

We did a 7,500 mile x-country trip last year in our '04 (four persons and all the camping gear). My goal was 50 mpg. Our final actual was 49.74. If it wouldn't have been for that one tank of ethanol I would have made it.

PA P

 

I'm a bit miffed about this..
I usually get an average of 48mph when not thinking about it or trying.
I went to "no ethanol" phillips 66 gas and it dropped about 3mpg?...

Its cold right now.. that could be the reason... I at least expected it to be the same.. but not drop!

I have heard its a matter of how the engine is tuned too.

I also question how trustworthy some of these gas stations are... their price was only 7 cents more for "no ethanol" gas... who knows.

 

We don't have any "no ethanol" gas. It's against the law in this state (strong farmers' lobby).

My first guess would be the cold. It's cold here too: -2°F (-18°C).

Tom

 

windstrings,

Well, it sure sounds like you got some ethanol, a 2-3 MPG hit would be
expected.

Then, if its much colder than normal, you could be seeing a tire pressure
related hit. Tire pressure is said to drop ~1 psi for each 10 degF drop in
outside temps.

As to the truthfulness of your local purveyor of petroleum distillates... ???
Maybe, due to circumstances beyond their control, they got a "bad batch."

 

True.. the temp swings here 50 - 60 degrees back and forth the last few months.
I'll have to give it more time to assess.... in the meantime... I feel like I'm paying more for less mpg!....

But it is indeed hard to find no ethanol.... I know one station and occasionally another when they have it that sells it in a 30 mile radius from where I'm at.... there may be more I don't know about.

I was trying to assess if the price difference was warranted for the mpg gained.. but so far, I'm getting the opposite benefits!