No More 5.3 Flex Fuel?

[neto1978]

I was building a model on the chevy webpage ,and I noticed that there's no 5.3 liter flexfuel option for the half ton LTZ silverados...

 

Gm discontinued it?

 

tks

[tnord]

why would they? the whole ethanol thing is a farce anyway.

[DofD]

I just went and checked it out on the Canadian Chevy site and the 5.3 Flex Fuel engine option is still there.

[Nick The Great]

Weren't/aren't they going to offer a 6.2 Flex fuel engine? I remember being angry after buying my truck, because that would be sweet

[mattgob86]

I just built one here in Kansas and it was still there but im getting the 6.2 !!!!! WHOOOO

[rvsahs]

I just went and checked it out on the Canadian Chevy site and the 5.3 Flex Fuel engine option is still there.

 

Yep, the option is still there...http://www.chevrolet.com/m/06/quickfacts/09_Silverado_combined.pdf

[Raymond Lowe]

I was at our local dealer yesterday and they had a 2009 CC Silverado LTZ 5.3 Flex-fuel w/6-speed loaded with all the goodies incl nav, sunroof, etc. And get this, in that Pearl white metallic from the '08 Escalades. One sweet looking ride! Well over 50K Cdn list.

[BuckFeverZ]

Wouldn't bother me any, I'm never going to run E-85 anyway.

[redvett]

With all the ethanol companies going bankrupt its going to be hard to buy E85 soon.

[fbachman]

E85.... what a joke.

 

I ran some numbers back when Gas was 4$/gallon. Assuming 15mpg with gas, and 15,000 miles per year driven, it would have taken almost two years to BREAK EVEN on fuel cost, assuming E85 was $1.00 per gallon cheaper than gas.....given that your fuel economy craters on the order of 20% with E85, on a GOOD day.

 

E85 is an interesting science experiment, but the economics were NEVER there, and probably will never GET there. It takes more energy contained in a gallon of gas to make a gallon of E85. Not to mention how many acres it would take to produce enough E85 to match fossil fuel consumption in the US.

 

Now, synthetic Diesel (like Fischer Tropsch processed fuel), that's a different story. We have enough coal to choke ourselves in this country.

 

A back of the envelope calc that I did not to long ago.... 5-7 Fischer-Tropsch refineries built in KY/WV, near the coal, and we could be completely self sufficient on aviation kerosenes in 5-7 years... and that's a LOT of kerosene.

[Nick The Great]

I run 100% E85. My average mileage is 11 mpg. "Normal" gas in my truck, on my route is maybe 13. Maybe. I filled up yesterday for almost $0.50/gal less. Last summer, I could get E85 for $0.75 or even $1 cheaper.

 

I drive roughly 15k miles per year. At 11mpg vs 13mpg, I save about $150 per year.

 

We could get in arguments about why the price is lower, and there is a strong argument there against ethanol. But a person could make that very argument about damn near anything we consume, even our GM trucks. From where I sit, I am using a 85% Iowa grown and produced product. That means a lot to me.

[Metro12]

The problem with ethanol, is that we use CORN to make our ethanol. Corn grown for ethanol produces about 300 gallons of fuel per acre. Switch grass grown for ethanol produces about 1200 gallons per acre. Why are we growing corn-its not because its easier, its because of the strong lobby of corn farmers. Growing corn for ethanol caused the demand for corn to increase, which caused the price to increase-smiles on the faces of corn farmers. Also, switch grass yields 540% of the energy it uses to produce it. That is opposed to an approximate 90% return for corn (meaning you burn more growing it then what it yields).

[Nick The Great]

The problem with ethanol, is that we use CORN to make our ethanol. Corn grown for ethanol produces about 300 gallons of fuel per acre. Switch grass grown for ethanol produces about 1200 gallons per acre. Why are we growing corn-its not because its easier, its because of the strong lobby of corn farmers. Growing corn for ethanol caused the demand for corn to increase, which caused the price to increase-smiles on the faces of corn farmers. Also, switch grass yields 540% of the energy it uses to produce it. That is opposed to an approximate 90% return for corn (meaning you burn more growing it then what it yields).

 

The corn lobby is huge, I'll give you that.

 

But come to Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, etc and try to convince farmers of that. Tell them that their combines, planters, cultivators, sprayers, wagons, grain trucks, grain bins, augers, grain dryers, etc are out of date and no longer necessary, and report back to us. Wild stab in the dark here, but I bet each farm would have 2 million dollars in useless equipment. Then they have to buy new equipment: seeders, mowers, balers, flatbed trucks, etc.

 

Switchgrass shows a lot of promise because it is not input or labor intensive. But the problem with any biomass feedstock is that it is not very dense. You literally have millions of cubic yards of this 'stuff' you have to transport.

 

There's no good answer to this conundrum. Ethanol isn't the final answer, and corn isn't even the answer to ethanol. But it's a start.

[VMax2007]

There's no good answer to this conundrum. Ethanol isn't the final answer, and corn isn't even the answer to ethanol. But it's a start.

 

That ^^^ Pretty much says it all right there.

[BuckFeverZ]

I run 100% E85. My average mileage is 11 mpg. "Normal" gas in my truck, on my route is maybe 13. Maybe. I filled up yesterday for almost $0.50/gal less. Last summer, I could get E85 for $0.75 or even $1 cheaper.

 

I drive roughly 15k miles per year. At 11mpg vs 13mpg, I save about $150 per year.

 

We could get in arguments about why the price is lower, and there is a strong argument there against ethanol. But a person could make that very argument about damn near anything we consume, even our GM trucks. From where I sit, I am using a 85% Iowa grown and produced product. That means a lot to me.

 

Wow, E-85 is the same price as 87 octane here. For awhile, 87 octane was actually 10 to 15 cents cheaper than E-85.