Can the Prius run on ethanol?

Filled up again yesterday, continuing the fuel experiment. The classic Prius is continuing to run fine on 25 to 30% alcohol, actual measured MPG 45, displayed MPG 50. That's about the same accuracy I was getting on E10, and about the same fuel mileage as well.

How I accomplish the 25% to 30% mix: I wait to fill up until I am at 2 bars, approx 3 gals fuel remaining. I pump 3 gallons E85 and complete the fill-up (about 6 gallons more) with regular-grade E10. The percentage alcohol in E85 may be anywhere from 70 to 85, and in E10 it can be from zero to 10% alcohol, so my actual percentage of alcohol is a rather inaccurate estimate.

I do NOT recommend this fuel mixture to others; all the standard warnings about destroying your fuel system are conveniently located in earlier postings of this thread.

Thanks for reading,
........MontyMan.

 

This on the whole seems like a silly experiment. The worst that can happen is that you destroy your car and the best that can happen is that it runs the way that it does on E10. Not sure I see the value there, other than the intrinsic value of running an experiment.

However, your quoted point above is a very good one. If E10 is fine, E11 is probably fine too. You're looking for the the cliff in the gas/alcohol mixture where your car will stop running. Since there isn't exactly 10% alcohol in E10, I'm sure that engines are designed with some margin built in to be able to handle more. It would be interesting to find out how much margin there really is.

On another note: what is your response to the "we burn 1.3 gallons of diesel to make 1 gallon of E85" statistic?

 

Based on a study I've read, and on anecdotes, I believe the car will actually continue running (with a warning light) on straight E85. Strictly speaking, finding a cliff is not my intention. I'd like to work up to a 30 to 40 percent mixture of alcohol in my fuel, and continue burning it over some period of time to see if there really are any system components that will be damaged by the higher-alcohol mixture. I suspect we could all burn at least 20% without damage, but who knows for sure unless some people try it?

I have not found a source I trust as unbiased on that information, but Americans will not tolerate excessive subsidies forever. If the process really is that inefficient, the industry will either find ways to correct the issues or we'll stop making it. One paper from the ethanol camp tells me that the making of corn into ethanol uses only the starch, and removes no corn protein from ranching supplies. But these are pro-ethanol people, so they would say that. And why are we using corn in the first place, if sugar cane is far superior for making ethanol?

I guess the short answer is, I haven't made one.

 

I definitely don't buy any argument that "we're wasting corn" or anything along those lines. I remember seeing a New York Times frontpage story a few years ago that showed giant piles of corn that were going unused.

The point of that article was that farm subsidies have caused America's food production to race ahead of its needs, and also that we should be giving that corn to starving countries. However, using it for fuel seems far better than just letting it sit and rot.

 

That was "a few years ago" that you saw giant piles of corn going unused. Why now do we have significant increases in food staples? Are there still large supplies of corn going to waste? (This is not an attack -- I do not know the answer, but I suspect we have a different economy at the moment.)

 

Uhh, read a newspaper every couple of months at least. US agribusiness is planting corn (for ethanol) instead of wheat and soybeans (which people can eat) to cash in on the corn ethanol subsidy madness. Corn prices are at record highs.

 

Record highs I can believe but not by much. At my local supermarket, it's 3 ears for $1 which is similar to the price at this time in recent years. And the quality of the fresh corn hasn't gone either. Direct derivatives of corn (popcorn, Karo syrup) are also not hyperinflated.

Again, I DO SEE THE INFLATION. But hugely inflated grocery prices, led by disproportionately inflated corn and corn products, are something I hear ethanol bashers talk about but don't actually see at the stores, at least here in Houston. I tend to blame the price of diesel which would have the effect of more modest inflation across the grocery spectrum.

 

nope no E85

i will hate to admit to this, but the day i bought my prius, I asked the salesman the same exact thing. To be honest i knew only a little about the prius going onto the lot..but now enjoy the car much more then i even did the day i bought it.

 

Are we now running low on wheat and soybeans?

 

We have to pay more for them. You tell me, does that constitute "running low"? We also have to pay more for products which depend on corn, such as meat and milk. It is widely agreed that corn ethanol is responsible.

The how-much-ethanol-can-one-burn-in-a-Prius-before-it-breaks "experiment" is pointless.

 

Agreed; as I said from the beginning, I am experimenting with various mixtures of alcohol and gasoline in the Prius only for my own curiosity, and with full awareness that repairs may be necessary should I exceed the alcohol resistance capabilities of fuel system components.