Running E85

Mike, I have a Gen II Prius (2008) and I'm hoping to run it on E85, too. Can you tell me which converter you have been using? Also, if anybody else knows of a way to connect my laptop to the Gen II Prius computer to simply change a setting which will allow me to use E85 without an add-in converter, please let me know!

 

Thank you very much!

I'm a bit of a programmer myself, and I know a couple of real programmers, so I'll try to see about programming the ECU. The only thing is, I would need a device/cable that would interface between the ECU and a laptop computer. I see a couple of cables on the web that will connect a laptop to the ECU; does anyone have any specific recommendations for which cable/software is best for a Prius? Mike or anybody else?

In any event, whether I have to buy the White Lightning or I manage to re-programme the ECU, I will be running E85, even though it costs the same as 87 octane here in Ottawa, Canada, simply because I want to participate in driving the transition to E85 and alternative fuels in general. I don't care if the E85 gives me worse mileage, I'm already driving a Prius for crying out loud. What I care about is playing my small part in getting us to stop sucking on the dino gas/oil petroleum teat. We really should be reserving petroleum for surgical plastics and other much more important uses, not burning it out the tailpipes of our cars.

 

Has anyone look at this?

E85 Ethanol Conversion Kit | eFlexFuel

It is pretty much a OEM flexifuel conversion kit

It uses parts that you'll find in standard flexifuel vehicle - this is the only kit in the market that ships with OEM ethanol sensor

"It recognizes ethanol content of the fuel mixture automatically and modifies the fuel injector signals accordingly. In this way, the air-fuel ratio is always optimal and fuel consumption, and emissions are minimized. When refueling, mixture recognition is done automatically if it has changed."

 

Many people did here in the US back in the days when gas was over $2 a gallon (which is why this thread is as old as it is.)

I don't know what they're charging for the system that you're thinking about, but I would think carefully about installing one in a Prius.
Some of these 'systems' are nothing more than an electronic piece of black tape for your check engine light.

 

Heres a video of my prius C running on E85

 

I am from Brazil, here we used e25 a long time without any problem in prius, only the consumption would be something like 47 mpg

 

thats quite amazing

 

Whats the time duration of “long time” ? Couple years?

 

Our Toyota Prius would be exactly the same sold in Europe without any modification. Imported from Japan. This year Toyota started to manufacture the Flex fuel hybrid corolla that can run on 100% ethanol.
The differences for a gasoline engine (corolla) are larger injectors, ECU reprogramming, ethanol resistant fuel pump and some modifications to the engine internal parts.

Here in Brazil we have a large supply of sugarcane ethanol and practically all cars made here are flex fuel.

 

Since 2001 the E25 is the only gasoline sold in Brazil.
all gasoline must be 25% ethanol