Video: Toyota racing series the first to use cars powered by E85
Filed under: Ethanol, Flex-Fuel, Toyota
We told you February that Toyota's racing series would use ethanol in 2007 and now we have a video of the first race from TV3, where they describe it as a world's first in motor sport. Toyota currently does not sell a flex fuel vehicle in the US market but they may sell flex fuel vehicles in the next several years. It may cost car makers as little as $100 to make a car flex fuel, and most cars are already built to tolerate ten percent ethanol blends in gasoline and Toyota does sell flex fuel vehicles in Brazil, so it's probably not a technology or cost issue. Why the wait, Toyota?
Related:
- LA 2007: Toyota Sequioa to get Flex-fuel option in fall 2008
- Toyota looking at a plug-in hybrid, flex-fuel vehicles?
- Toyota To Unveil Flex-Fuel Tundra In North America In 2008
- Toyota to intro flex-fuel Tundra, hopes it will help sales in the Mid-West
- World Touring Car Championship to run ethanol exclusively from 2009
- American Le Mans Series moving further into biofuels
- First-ever all-ethanol Indy 500 has a winner...
No brainer of the day! GM to bring Chevy Beat to US market
2009 BMW 7-series leaks, possible hybrid coming in a year
Honda unveils Japanese FCX Clarity - now with more heated seats!
GM hybrid finally starting to get a little traction, 1,149 in June
Shai Agassi pitches $100 billion plan
At Witz' End - Gas Prices - What To Do, What To Do?
Sensible AAA recomments not trying "dangerous fuel-saving techniques"
Is the Volt nothing more than bailout bait?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-29-2007 @ 11:51PM
Kendall Tawes said...
E85 is still just not efficient. It uses more energy to produce it than it gives us and it just makes no sense but this is still better than E85 from corn which is also bad for the land too.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 11:34AM
Dustin said...
Uhhh... please make the point that it is NOT the world's first. Honda's Indy engines have been PURE ethanol for what, 2 years now? Yet Toyota would not stay in that series and compete.
Freakin Toyota and their damn PR machine. And all these "news" sites that do nothing but eat up their every word. I'll bet they're the most fuel efficient company in America too, huh? They wish.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 11:56AM
Lascelles Linton said...
Dustin, I was going to but they probably mean first with caveats we don't know about. I think the several races I linked sort of makes the point. Also, the fact they don't sell a flex fuel is probably more embarrassing than trying to say they were first. It could have been the news networks as well. Philosophically, maybe they are all "firsts" :D I think Honda says they are the most fuel efficient. I was actually going to look into that.
Reply
11-30-2007 @ 1:52PM
rgseidl said...
Biofuels makes environmental sense only if the fuel energy output of the production process is substantially greater than the fossil fuel inputs. Corn ethanol from the medwestern US does not pass this test, whereas biodiesel from palm oil and ethanol from sugar cane do. Of course, there are other factors to consider, e.g. whether or not forests had to be clear-cut to grow the feedstock.
Short alcohols are great for motor racing because of their high octane levels. That means the geometric compression (or turbo boost, where applicable) can be increased. This increases both power and efficiency, at the expense of higher stresses on the engine components. However, race engines don't have to last nearly as long as series production units.
A huge downside of E85 and its ilk is the low energy density when compared to gasoline by either volume or mass. Unless all drivers in a race are required to use the same fuel, any time gained due to the improved performance is lost due to additional refueling stops.
Reply