Because certain subsidies and incentives allow many gas stations to sell ethanol for less money than regular gasoline, the fuel is becoming a popular choice among motorists, even if their vehicles are not certified for flex-fuel use. All vehicles sold in the U.S. today are capable of accepting small doses of the alcohol fuel, as up to ten-percent of normal gasoline may be ethanol. Of course, the fuel is available in higher concentrations for vehicles which have been designed to use it, with E85 - eighty-five-percent ethanol, fifteen-percent gasoline - proving one of the most popular combinations.

Apparently, though, the lower price of the fuel has attracted the attention of those looking to save a few bucks on each fill-up. In fact, this article indicates that many users are mixing their own blends right in their tanks. This trend has prompted some gas stations to allow a choice of ethanol mixtures for drivers who want to use it, right from a single pump. Manufacturers warn that using alcohol fuels in vehicles not certified for them could cause permanent damage, so be sure you know what you're doing before breaking those rules.

[Source: AP via The Detroit News]

Oh, the poor ethanol industry figures. Maligned for their reliance on corn, blamed for rising food prices and having to resort to subsidized fuel sales to attract attention, ethanol is an easy target these days.. Ethanol can't even get any love from the chickens. Last week, ethanol promoters gathered in Nashville to lash out at OPEC and Big Oil, and to figure out how ethanol will fare in the coming years. Around 4,000 people attended the 2008 Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Expo, according to organizers BBI. There is a lengthy video of the opening session now available online here.

In the video, the president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association,Bob Dinneen, breaks into a bit of a tirade about the oil industry. Dinneen's message is that the oil companies are waging war against renewables through paid-for studies and newspaper editorials. The ethanol industry's solution? Mandate that all new vehicles in the U.S. be E85-capable (we assume they mean all current gasoline-powered vehicles). Author Robert Zubrin said this would drive gas prices down to $50 a barrel. I say if cellulosic ethanol companies can make good on their promises to sell ethanol for something like $2 a gallon, you won't need a mandate to get all cars to be E85-ready.

Although Toyota is the undisputed leader in hybrid sales, it has shied away from offering E85-capable vehicles in the United States. In other markets, though, where ethanol is widely available and popular, such as Brazil, Toyota has seen fit to offer vehicles which are able to run on the alcohol fuel. Just-Auto reports that Thailand might be the next market where Toyota could begin offering E85-capable vehicles, citing The Nation newspaper in Thailand. The decision to offer ethanol-capable vehicles is made easier as any gasoline engine can be made to run on E85 with only minor changes, such as new fuel lines and a computer recalibration.

Toyota also hopes that the price of E85 remains low in relation to the price of gasoline, which could help offset the lower mileage that E85 fuel causes. The source article also points to molasses and tapioca as locally-grown feedstocks for the production of the fuel itself.

[Source: Just-Auto - sub. req'd]

The U.S. Air Force is trying to make its ground vehicles a little less petroleum fuel-hungry. It has advanced li-ion battery contracts out and funded the Silverado EV. The company Xcelplus International Inc. announced this week that it and MAG International Inc. will be providing the Air Force with a "new fleet of off road vehicles designed to reduce exhaust emissions." The reduced emissions for the 450 vehicles come from flexfuel conversions and then running the unnamed vehicles on E85. Aside from the secrecy of the vehicles involved, the amount the company will receive for the conversions was also not stated. One thing that isn't hush-hush, though, is that a lot of taxpayer money will be funneled through the Pentagon to increase fuel efficiency for "warfighters" for a long time to come. More detail after the break.

A new study by J.D. Power and associates is projecting that the combined market share of diesel and hybrid power-trains will hit seventeen percent in the U.S. by the middle of the next decade. The analysis also projects that smaller displacement four cylinder and flex-fuel engines will take a much larger share than they do today as demand wanes for more powerful engines. Between the diesels and hybrids, the former are expected to take a significantly larger share due to lower cost. The cost premium for hybrids is expected to remain higher going forward. This extra cost will drive more adoption of technologies like direct fuel injection and turbocharging of smaller displacement gas engines going forward since the cost is a lot lower.

Power is projecting that the cost premium for automakers to achieve the 35mpg standard will be $4,000-5,000 even though cars in Europe already meet that threshold. The study apparently presumes that American car buyers won't be willing to shift to the smaller, lower powered cars that dominate the European market. If U.S. car buyers insist on continuing to drive larger cars and trunks while trying to achieve those higher mileage numbers, it will be costly to make the upgrades. If on the other hand they are willing to change their buying habits, the premium could be a lot smaller. Pure battery electrics and fuel cells will probably both remain a negligible part of the market primarily due to high cost.

[Source: Detroit News]

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Ahead of the Geneva Motor Show next month, Ford has further elaborated on its sustainable mobility plans. Just as Ford execs like Derrik Kuzak have described here in the U.S. recently, Ford's European plan includes cost-effective solutions. With the intent to get large numbers of cars with reduced emissions and fuel consumption on the road as soon as possible, Ford intends to pursue some of the same strategies in Europe that it's using in the U.S. Last fall in Frankfurt, Ford announced plans to add an ECOnetic edition to each model in its lineup. The ECOnetic models would be optimized for ultra-low CO₂ emissions, with extra-efficient diesel engines, low rolling resistance tires, and other tweaks.

Ford will also offer their EcoBoost engines in European models. The EcoBoost engines were announced at the Detroit Auto Show and feature turbocharging and direct fuel injection on smaller displacement four- and six-cylinder engines. The EcoBoost engines will provide the power and torque of larger engines with much lower fuel consumption. By the end of 2008, Ford will have E85 flex-fuel engines to the Mondeo, S-MAX and Galaxy, bringing its total in Europe to five models. In certain markets where a fueling infrastructure is available, Ford will offer models that run on LPG or compressed natural gas, too.


[Source: Ford]

The GMC Denali XT concept debuts at the 2008 Chicago Auto Show this week. The flex-fuel, two-mode hybrid pickup truck reminds me a lot of Toyota's A-BAT hybrid pickup concept. The Denali XT has a more coupe-ish look and feel than Toyota's A-BAT. As you can see in the video above, GMC uses the paint job to make it look lower than it actually is. The low-slung, car-like look of the pick-up is not an illusion though: the Denali XT concept is based on the same chassis as the Pontiac G8 and Chevrolet Camaro.

If the Denali XT is ever released (GM management is still deciding), it will not only be the first flex-fuel hybrid but the first hybrid pickup that also comes with direct injection, active fuel management, cylinder deactivation, and has a combined MPG rating of 25 MPG, all while churning out 326 horse power and 3,500 pound towing capacity. The Denali XT is the perfect example of how the new CAFE standards impact vehicle design. I seriously doubt GMC would have done something like this if not for the new CAFE standard.

[Source: YouTube]

For the 2009 model year, Ford is expanding flex-fuel capability on their big trucks. The humongous Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs and the E-Series vans will all be capable of running E85 through the 5.4L V-8. Ford has already offered the same flex-fuel capability on the F-150 pickups for several years. The change probably won't make any real impact on to total fuel consumption but it will get Ford some mpg credits. The Ford press release is after the jump.

[Source: Ford]

The first video below the fold is Mazda's Director of Design, Franz von Holzhausen talking about the Furai concept at the Detroit Auto Show. The Furai is a racing concept that runs on E100 (100 percent ethanol) and the car's design is inspired by the wind. The video includes a look at a really cool pop-up wing in the middle of the Furai.

The second video below the fold is the Furai on the race track with sounds you really have to hear. You will never believe that's corn ethanol making that noise. Also below the fold is a video that takes a look at the inside of the Furai and its very cool steering wheel.

Related:

• Detroit 2008 Preview: Mazda Furai concept
• Detroit 2008 Preview: Mazda Furai completely exposed

[Source: YouTube]

There are already millions of flex-fuel vehicles on the road today, and manufacturers like General Motors have committed to building many, many more. In fact, GM has plans for half of their entire fleet of automotive offerings to be flex-fuel capable by the year 2012. According to Jim Wagoner, GM's CEO, if all of the flex-fuel vehicles that are currently on the roads were actually powered by E85, the U.S. could displace 22 billion gallons of gasoline annually. This raises a serious problem, though, considering that there are only about 1,400 E85 pumps in the entire country. Many of those are all clustered in a few Midwestern states. In view of this, Wagoner suggests that the U.S. needs about ten times as many E85 pumps than are currently operational.

No matter what your view of E85 may be, you likely agree that using food crops such as corn is not the best choice. In lieu of corn, Wagoner suggests investing more heavily in cellulosic ethanol (which is exactly what GM is doing with Coskata in the deal announced today). There is plenty more to read here, where you can read the text of the Wagoner's entire speech. You'll also encounter a couple of very, very bad jokes. Enjoy!

[Source: General Motors, CNET Green Tech blog]

While there is certainly a large number of GOPers who don't want to give the idea of climate change the time of day, the national security wing of the Party is most likely very much in favor of reducing the amount of oil imports. Therefore, it makes some sense that when GM was named to be the "Official Vehicle Provider to 2008 Republican National Convention," they chose to make the 300-vehicle fleet "primarily" of flexible-fuel and hybrid models.

GM has worked with the Republicans for the last seven GOP conventions, and this year GOP convention President and Chief Executive Officer Maria Cino said in a statement (available after the jump) that the partnership will be part of "the greenest convention in our Party's history." Since the convention will be held in Minnesota, my guess is that the E85-capable vehicles will actually have ethanol in them. Still, it'd be nice if someone can check for us when the convention happens in September. Anyone want to volunteer?

On an OT side note, I have to believe that this line from the statement announcing the partnership is pure comedy:
"The Republican Party is committed to environmental preservation and the responsible stewardship of our natural resources." Not even all Republicans believe that.

[Source: 2008 Republican National Convention Committee on Arrangements]

In a recent episode of MotorWeek, as you can in the video above, Pat Goss lays out the reasons why flex-fuel conversion kits are "impractical." Using parts supplied by GM, Pat lists the things in a regular gas engine that just won't work with ethanol. The parts that must be changed to convert a gas car to run on ethanol include: fuel lines, fuel pumps, fuel gauges, fuel tank, fuel rail, capsule assembly, fuel injectors, the fuel injector computer, fuel identifier, exhaust valves, intake valves, valve seats and - last but not least - the cylinder heads must be replaced.

Pat warns against using conversion kits you find on the internet but I don't think he meant to say EPA approved kits are impractical. Early research hints regular cars may be able to use higher percentages of ethanol. Even the president, depending on how you interpret his recent comments about ethanol, may endorse regular cars using ethanol. The EPA however warns using ethanol in a regular car will cause your engine to stop working, damage your engine, increase emissions and set the emissions warning light off. We have written about ethanol conversion kits and gas cars using ethanol but don't gloss over the first lines of those articles that warn that there is a debate on the practicality of these options.

[Source: YouTube]

Who said muscle cars can't be green? The video above is all about the 2008 Indy 500 pace car, an E85-fueled Corvette Z06. Chevy does not make an E85 Corvette but this concept may hint at future plans from Chevy's gas friendly to gas free strategy. The video includes the pace car driver, two-time Indy 500 winner, Emerson Fittipaldi, joking it will be great to look in the mirror and see all those Indy cars behind him. The Z06 is capable of changing colors from green, blue, gold and yellow and you can check it out in the 2008 Indy 500 which airs Sunday, May 25, 2008.

Related:

• Honda Accord Hybrid to pace Indy series for 2007
• President Bush a fan of using ethanol in Indy races
• Switch to ethanol not a problem for Indy Racing League
• Ethanol Motor Day at the Indy 500. Secretary Bodman's comments
• 100% ethanol Indy racers start competing this Saturday

[Source: Google Video]

Vinod Khosla has challenged conventional ideas on the cost of ethanol and then walked the walked by investing in America's first cellulosic ethanol plant. What does Vinod think about plug-in cars and battery technology? According to Greentech Media, during a keynote at a ThinkEquity conference, Vinod says "Forget plug-ins. ... They are nice toys. But they will not be material to climate change."

Vinod's real problem is with battery technology and not plug-ins specifically. "Are we more likely to get a [fivefold] reduction in cost in cellulosic ethanol than a [fivefold] reduction in cost of batteries?" Vinod asks in his keynote. At 5:37 into the video above (part of the Keynote), Vinod says, "I don't believe they [batteries] are going to be material to climate change solutions in the near term or the next two decades."

Vinod does say batteries are a good investment even though it won't have a material impact on climate change. What do you expect? A big investor in ethanol to sing the praises of batteries in a keynote at an investment conference? Flex-fuel plug-in hybrids are not impossible but these two technologies [battery and ethanol] are basically competing to be the green car solution of choice for government, industry and venture capital investment.

We want to know what you think. In 20 years, which technology will have a greater impact on cleaning up the planet: batteries or ethanol?

[Source: YouTube, Greentech Media via Grist, Treehugger]