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E85 Gas Mileage

urbancowboy

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urbancowboy Enthusiast

urbancowboy

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just came back from a trip to minneapolis and on the way down @75 mph averaged @19 mpg. at 60 mph got @ 22 mpg. on the way back home decided to try out the E85. cost me 30 bucks less to fill up but only averaged 13.6-14 mpg and i tried it at various speeds and it was the same mileage. so it wasn't really worth the trouble to run the E85. got my truck up to 90 for a short distance to see how it ran and it was pretty smooth and quiet inside to say the least. didn't run it very far as i didn't want the speeding ticket.

Griffin86 Enthusiast

Griffin86

Posted
Posted
just came back from a trip to minneapolis and on the way down @75 mph averaged @19 mpg. at 60 mph got @ 22 mpg. on the way back home decided to try out the E85. cost me 30 bucks less to fill up but only averaged 13.6-14 mpg and i tried it at various speeds and it was the same mileage. so it wasn't really worth the trouble to run the E85. got my truck up to 90 for a short distance to see how it ran and it was pretty smooth and quiet inside to say the least. didn't run it very far as i didn't want the speeding ticket.

 

Stop racing! :lol: thats where your 5+ mpg went! Yeah I don't think E85 would be worth it, but hey atleast you have a choice. We have to run like E90 all the time which costs the same.

 

My bad, I got confused, I thought the 85 part was gas. Now I don't feel so bad for only having 10% ethanol.

slimjim2525 Senior Enthusiast

slimjim2525

Posted
Posted

It sounds to be just about a wash. Has anyone tried to decrase the e-85 to e-70 or so by adding a few gallons of gasoline and see if gas mileage improves.

pm26 Senior Enthusiast

pm26

Posted
Posted
It sounds to be just about a wash. Has anyone tried to decrase the e-85 to e-70 or so by adding a few gallons of gasoline and see if gas mileage improves.

 

It would definitely improve, as gasoline is more energetic than E 85 (higher caloric value per unit mass).

pm26 Senior Enthusiast

pm26

Posted
Posted
just came back from a trip to minneapolis and on the way down @75 mph averaged @19 mpg. at 60 mph got @ 22 mpg. on the way back home decided to try out the E85. cost me 30 bucks less to fill up but only averaged 13.6-14 mpg and i tried it at various speeds and it was the same mileage. so it wasn't really worth the trouble to run the E85. got my truck up to 90 for a short distance to see how it ran and it was pretty smooth and quiet inside to say the least. didn't run it very far as i didn't want the speeding ticket.

 

A 25-30% decrease in fuel economy when using E85 is to be expected. I got similar results with several flex fuel engine cars.

tobias Senior Enthusiast

tobias

Posted
Posted
just came back from a trip to minneapolis and on the way down @75 mph averaged @19 mpg. at 60 mph got @ 22 mpg. on the way back home decided to try out the E85. cost me 30 bucks less to fill up but only averaged 13.6-14 mpg and i tried it at various speeds and it was the same mileage. so it wasn't really worth the trouble to run the E85. got my truck up to 90 for a short distance to see how it ran and it was pretty smooth and quiet inside to say the least. didn't run it very far as i didn't want the speeding ticket.

 

A 25-30% decrease in fuel economy when using E85 is to be expected. I got similar results with several flex fuel engine cars.

 

 

I have experienced anywhere from 8-15% and that covers both highway and city driving with multiple, repeated E-85 fills. My 12.5 city drops to just about 10 while my highway drops from 19 to about 16.

neto1978 Enthusiast

neto1978

Posted
Posted
just came back from a trip to minneapolis and on the way down @75 mph averaged @19 mpg. at 60 mph got @ 22 mpg. on the way back home decided to try out the E85. cost me 30 bucks less to fill up but only averaged 13.6-14 mpg and i tried it at various speeds and it was the same mileage. so it wasn't really worth the trouble to run the E85. got my truck up to 90 for a short distance to see how it ran and it was pretty smooth and quiet inside to say the least. didn't run it very far as i didn't want the speeding ticket.

 

I always use E85 ,getting 12mpg - 75mph - highway , 10,7 mpg on city.

dixie1865 Enthusiast

dixie1865

Posted
Posted

I finally tried e-85. I got 15.1 mpg out of it. I usually get about 17.5 on regular unleaded (around town). I figured it up and unless I save my receipts and send them in to the state (Illinois) for my rebate , then it is not worth it.

 

BTW- '08 Sierra Ext cab All Terrain 5.3L 3.73 gears

Heysdad Enthusiast

Heysdad

Posted
Posted

I don't want to sound like a total tree hugger here, but if the MPG's are less but the you pay less and break even, then is it not worth running it just for the fact it is a renewable fuel sorce and it burns cleaner which helps the planet earth....... :rollin:

 

I just don't get how everyone thinks just because they don't get great mpg's from E-85 it's worthless... :lol:

 

Just keep sending you're dollars to the middle east. With the way they keep screwing us on the price of gas, why would you want to keep paying them? :lol:

 

We should be making it hurt for them any way we can. Just wait until lot's of people start driving hybrids and small cars. We use less gas and the big oil company is not making that big bank roll like they are now.

 

You know what happens then right? They cut supply big time because we are not using very much, and up go the prices again because they are not getting that BIG $$$$$$$$

 

Ok......again.........30dbjt1.jpg

Bish Senior Enthusiast

Bish

Posted
Posted
I don't want to sound like a total tree hugger here, but if the MPG's are less but the you pay less and break even, then is it not worth running it just for the fact it is a renewable fuel sorce and it burns cleaner which helps the planet earth....... :rollin:

 

I just don't get how everyone thinks just because they don't get great mpg's from E-85 it's worthless... :lol:

 

Just keep sending you're dollars to the middle east. With the way they keep screwing us on the price of gas, why would you want to keep paying them? :lol:

 

We should be making it hurt for them any way we can. Just wait until lot's of people start driving hybrids and small cars. We use less gas and the big oil company is not making that big bank roll like they are now.

 

You know what happens then right? They cut supply big time because we are not using very much, and up go the prices again because they are not getting that BIG $$$$$$$$

 

Ok......again.........30dbjt1.jpg

 

 

I prefer to use a fuel that doesn't compete with our food supply. Now perhaps if they could perfect ethanol production from the waste products like stalks and such, it would be a better alternative. Besides, only a small percentage of our oil imports actually come from the middle east. Even if we completely stopped importing middle east oil tomorrow, the excess would be quickly made up by other oil consuming nations, particularly India and China.

 

What we really need in the long term is a better source than hydrocarbons for our energy. Unfortunately, that is a long term solution. We will continue to consume oil for many years until it is gone. Hopefully by then we will have a good alternative.

Kodiak450 Senior Enthusiast

Kodiak450

Posted
Posted

Regarding E85, can you just like put that stuff in your tank? My truck says E85 compatable, but I thought I needed some conversion kit installled from GM or something. There isn't any E85 serice station's around me anyways, I think the closewt one is near Buffalo, NY.

urbancowboy Enthusiast

urbancowboy

Posted
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also forgot to mention, seemed like when i accelerated it seemed to lack a little horsepower compared to reg. fuel. fyi i was up to 90 for a little short time passing some one and the rest of the time set my cruise to 5 mph over the speed limit as probably everyone else does. so i wasn't racing,

gvbhunt Enthusiast

gvbhunt

Posted
Posted

Do you know that it takes approximately 1.6 gallons of oil (diesel, fertilizer, etc) for each gallon of E-85 produced?

 

That is from an article in Popular Science a few months ago. I can get the name of the article and which edition it was in.

 

Plus it drives up the price of food because since ethanol is government assisted, lots of farmers are moving from food plants to corn for ethanol because THEY can grow it cheaper as long as it goes to fuel.

 

So technically by using E-85 you are causing the prices of gasoline to go up because of increased oil demands and are making the cost of food go up, right? :lol:

 

Bish is right though. Make ethanol from Sugar beets or switch grass. They produce more alcohol and it does not do as much economic damage as corn ethanol.

Griffin86 Enthusiast

Griffin86

Posted
Posted
Do you know that it takes approximately 1.6 gallons of oil (diesel, fertilizer, etc) for each gallon of E-85 produced?

 

That is from an article in Popular Science a few months ago. I can get the name of the article and which edition it was in.

 

Plus it drives up the price of food because since ethanol is government assisted, lots of farmers are moving from food plants to corn for ethanol because THEY can grow it cheaper as long as it goes to fuel.

 

So technically by using E-85 you are causing the prices of gasoline to go up because of increased oil demands and are making the cost of food go up, right? :lol:

 

Bish is right though. Make ethanol from Sugar beets or switch grass. They produce more alcohol and it does not do as much economic damage as corn ethanol.

 

There is a big drop in corn acres this year. The most since 1949

 

http://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/2008/03_31_2008.asp

onac255 Senior Enthusiast

onac255

Posted
Posted

Brazil has been using Ethanol for years now with great success and they do not make their ethanol from corn they make it from sugar cane.

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