Prius Conversion to E85 Ethanol?

My all time favorite hoax about grain fuel was part of GM's pre-bankruptcy history.
"FLEX FUEL" vehicles:

The epa (in cahoots with the scheme), via CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) numbers ... and grain fuel proponents pull the ultimate public rip-off. It goes like this. Let's say (for example) your land barge suburban gets 16mpg on gasoline. Let's say you mix your fuel 50/50 gasoline/grain alcohol. NOW, you travel almost TWICE as far on the 50/50 mix! ! !

How? Is it a miracle ?? Sure! You see, the EPA (being part of the fraud) say's "we only count GAS or OIL as fuel ... not alcohol". So ... the EPA only counts ONE HALF of the gallon of the fuel mix towards EPA stats. Thus, you travel (in their sick world) 16 miles on only 1/2 a gallon of "GAS" because the other half of the mix is grain! Ahhhhhh-hahahahahahahaaaa! Suckers!

But wait! There's more! Grain fuel gets WORSE mpg than conventional liquid fuels, so YOU didn't even go 16 miles per gallon in your Suburban now ... maybe you only traveled 14 miles, because the 50/50 fuel mix doesn't contain as much energy.
Gasoline: 114,100 btu's of energy
Ethanol: 76,100 btu's of energy
Doesn't matter! Under this fraud, EPA doubled the mpg, so it still counts as 28mpg ... since you only used 1/2 a gallon of "gasoline" while using the whole gallon of "fuel". And that's your bedtime story about flex-fuel vehicles (and part of GM's ongoing fraud).

This is an exagerated/oversimplification of CAFE formulas, still it describes what's really going on:

ISS - Flex-fuel fraud?

If auto manufacturers build too many gas guzzlers, they get penalized. But if they build enough of these "cheeter" vehicles, they get to fraudulently jack their mpg numbers up, and don't have to pay fines for poor mpg's. These are regulatons enacted by mine and YOUR offficials.

P.S.
For more on (not moron) this topic, and E-85's true nature (for one of a thousand examples) go here:

Corn biofuel 'dangerously oversold' as green energy - environment - 18 July 2007 - New Scientist

How Big is the Biofuel Footprint? | Greener Pastures: Personal Finance

I apologize, if this makes me sound like "Mr. Negative"


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Hey I respect those views. I would actually rather see ethanol fuels made from algae, and grass, and sugar cane. It really should be made from a wide variety of things. One good thing, is a they are developing some partnerships with breweries and wineries to get some of the leftovers, and unusable parts. I know that most still comes from Corn, and for that I'm a little displeased. However, I still don't think it's terrible, I am just afraid that it is being made with very inefficient means making it no better than gasoline.

 

Lol u need higher compression if that is the case. But it's not worth it as u are still paying the greedy pricks u need to convert it to run on the ether of the earth like I and use a unversal energy found here thera a few on here u need to tap into


iPhone ?

 

I have been running e85 after altering the ignition system. The plastics are capable of handling the e85. I don't think you recoup your money, I did it for other various reasons. I didn't pay $99 in shipping, or anything extreme. I talked to the company to verify what exactly the kit was before buying it. I'd just exercise caution and get one with a warranty, or great support.

Also try to get one that specifically supports cold weather.

Good luck,

 

Oh, I thought I should state that the compression ratio in the 3rd gen prius is actually close to that of a few of the higher end cars I had that required higher octane. It's actually my [theory] that they are altering the timing to make it run on lower regular octane fuel. That and the atkinson cycle influences things a bit I'm sure. Point is, the 3rd gen seems to be an excellent candidate, and I have been getting 44mpg on e85. I save money on the gas but sacrifice fuel efficiency. It's leveled out. I didn't expect to recoup the initial investment though.

 

I think i'm the guy David [Beale] was referring to about using E85 and if i remember rightly,berating me for it...thickskinned Irishman me!!
I installed a flex fuel unit on my 06 Prius Taxi in March 2008 with 130,000klm and ran it on E85 to 210,000klm with no probs,i still throw in the odd tank of E85 from time to time,
Here in Ireland E85 is manufactured from whey,a by product of cheese unlike US,
When i started using E85,petrol had risen to an all time high as it did in the US and the price difference between both fuels was quite big,it's true that E85 rose in price by a couple of cents due to the 15% petrol content but when petrol prices fell [quite considerably] E85 didn't so from a financial point it wasn't worth it,when petrol was at it's peak price it was almost 40 cent more expensive than E85,it's about 15 cent at the moment.
I have a little over 272,000klm on my Prius.

 

Yes I think he mentioned you in a round a bout way. David is who I bought it off of.

Glad to hear your Prius is doing well after so long.

 

No, I think you're reading too much into my posts. I berate no-one. I only warn.

The funniest thing I ever saw about "flexfuel" vehicles was Motorweeks test a year ago. They tested, among others, a flexfuel full size GM PU. It actually cost about 150% more when running on E85 compared to regular gasoline! That's cost per mile.

I DO support the E10 however. It's much better to add a bit of ethyl alcohol which is biodegradable and basically not very toxic than to add one of the others that fuel companies like, such as "techron", MTBE, etc.

 

Yeah, leave the berating to me! I'm a master berater.

 

I'm still an apprentice, but I continue to practice as much as possible. With time I may make it to the master level.

Tom

 

Haha, well no worries here. I know your points are valid.

I was always upset that they only put flexfuel in seemingly gas-hog type vehicles. People would notice a huge inconvenience in range, and efficiency. If they did use the e85, then they would need larger quantities than an efficient car. I always sort of thought it was designed to fail.

None-the-less I like trying these things out.

 

Another joke is they are selling the flex fuel vehicles here in Vancouver. We don't even have E85.

Most fuel has about 10% ethanol in it already. If it ate out your system there would be a huge swath of Prius owners already with fuel system problems. There Ain't.

 

... Interesting too that Illinois has a $0.25 per gallon fuel tax on their gas... and 255 miles of corn along I-55 from STL to Chicago... Just sayin'