E 85 Break Even Point

[vanettend]

to those of you running e 85 i am just wondering what your break even point is. What does the price of e 85 have to before you are acually saving money vs just losing mpg. With fuel prices rising i think this is somthing everyone should concider if the price is right. I personally do not run e 85 mostly because I have not figured my break even point but with the high fuel prices i am concidering figuring it out. Right now i am averaging about 18 mpg(2011 1500 crew cab), 99 percent hwy driving everyday with cruise at 60mph. I think this will be fun to see where everyone comes in at.

[TheGreekIndian]

from what I have read, their needs to be about a 60 cent difference per gallon for it to make sense to use e-85

[Nick The Great]

All emotions and politic-ing aside the only data you can trust is your own.

 

You need a good average MPG number for E-85 and one without it. In my truck, on my routes, with my driving habits, I will get 11mpg with E85 and 13 or so without. So I've figured my "tipping point" to be 40 or 50 cents.

[kawtoy_77]

Its somewhere between 65-70 cents for me, but the stations around here maintain a 50 cent price difference; no more, no less. I is not cost effective for me to run it, but I do so anyways to clean out everything once every 3-4 months.

[RyanbabZ71]

For my Tahoe it is 50 cents. My truck is between 40 and 50 but havent run enough premium (6.2L) to have spot on analysis.

[TheGreekIndian]

what math do i need to do to figure out EXACTLY how much difference i need to make?

[vettelovralexand]

what math do i need to do to figure out EXACTLY how much difference i need to make?

 

Just divide the MPG on E85 by the MPG on regular. That gives you a ratio. For example, Nick the Great's numbers give 11/13 or 0.846. Multiply that by the cost of a gallon of regular. Lets say 3 bucks. That gives us the break even price of E85 to be 2.538. That gives a break even price difference of 46.2 cents. Obviously the price difference is not a set number, but actually needs to be a set ratio.

[vanettend]

unleaded price divide by unleaded mpg equals unleaded price per mile

e85 price divide by e85 mpg equals e85 price per mile

 

then you can use those equations to figure your break evan point. For most people it seems that e85 has to be somewhere around 40 50 cents a gallon cheaper. I have not ran a tank of e85 so i dont know my mpg to figure anything yet.

[vanettend]

right now by me gas is 3.14 at my 18 mpg that is .174 cents per mile. e 85 is at 2.69 a difference of .45 cents at this price i would have to get 15.5 mpg with e85 just to break evan

[RyanbabZ71]

There is a calculator here

 

http://www.e85prices.com/

[AzDragonLord]

There is a calculator here

 

http://www.e85prices.com/

 

 

That's a great site to visit!

[jeg1]

There is a calculator here

 

http://www.e85prices.com/

 

 

That's a great site to visit!

 

 

Yes very informative site, It shows that the new Buick Turbo Regal gets same mileage on E85 as regular gas.