E85: fuel fantasy or real deal? (UPDATED)
Newswheel staff :: 17 October 2005 :: Filed under Ford, Ford Focus, Saab, Europe & UK
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Mean, green new-age fueling machine
You like cars. We like cars. Especially when they have rip rorting combustion engines. Problem is, the petrol engine as we know it is not long for this world. But what if there was an alternative fuel that was 80 per cent greener but actually made your car faster? This is one dreary tech story you just have to read…
E85: it’s da bomb in Sweden. Allegedly.
E85. It’s greener. It’s meaner. And it’s here today. Kinda. E85 is a fuel blended from 85 per cent bio-ethanol and 15 per cent conventional petrol, and it delivers two key benefits. Massively reduced CO2 emissions and more power. Riiiiiiiiight…
Real deal
But bear with us, because E85 really could be the real deal: the fuel that allows the internal combustion engine, that most wonderous of devices, to survive in a modern and environmentally responsible world.
Admittedly, E85 achieves its low emissions through a rather circuitous route. The drill goes something like this. The bio-ethanol component is produced from crops such as sugar, the growing of which extracts CO2 from the atmosphere. Hence, there’s a zero sum process when burning that ethanol and returning the C02 to the atmosphere. Of course, the 15 per cent petrol component does introduce new CO2 into the cycle, but far less than burning 100 per cent petrol. Overall, CO2 emissions from E85 engines are reduced by 80 per cent compared with petrol-only equivalents.
Focus Flexi-Fuel. Available spring 2006.
Now, you can’t just dump E85 into any old car. An expensive conversion is required. However, both Ford and Saab are planning on releasing E85-compatible cars in the UK next year in the form of the Focus Flexi-Fuel 1.8 and the Saab 9-5 2.0 BioPower. The Focus will be available by early 2006 for £14,095, though Saab hasn’t released launch and pricing info as yet. Usefully, both cars will be able to run on any mix of petrol and E85 – you won’t be left stranded hunting for a non-existent E85 outlet.
More power, too
However, the best news is yet to come: both cars produce more poke running on pure E85 than their petrol-powered equivalents. Thanks to E85’s high octane properties, the Focus is up 5 per cent, the Saab a massive 20 per cent (though turbo induction confuses the issue on the 9-5 – we’re not sure whether the boost pressures and other forced induction bits are entirely comparable). It really does sound too good to be true. Surely there’s some downside?
Saab showed off BioPower models at the recent revised 9-5 launch event in Italy.
Well, fuel consumption goes up quite a bit – by as much as 30 per cent on the Focus. But given the greenhouse gas benefits, the apparently lower fuel production costs and the current tax advantages, that’s hardly a problem.
So, can E85 really challenge petrol and diesel as the fuel for the world’s road-based transport? In the UK, it’s currently virtually impossible to get hold of E85. Half a dozen outlets are planned for next year as part of a project in Somerset (great!). And rumour has it there’s a pump somewhere in Gloucestershire. Still, if Sweden can do it (and it can), then surely the rest of the world could?
Harsh truths
Moreover, there’s simply no way governments across the globe are going to give up their petrol duty revenues. Hence, E85 surely will be taxed if it ever threatens to become a serious alternative. And you have to wonder what the all-round implications and practicality of producing enough of the stuff to fuel the world’s cars would be. Nevertheless, the first steps towards a possible E85-powered transport system have been taken in the UK. Planning approval has been given for a new production plant (again in Somerset) which will covert 340,000 tonnes of wheat into 33 million gallons of ethanol starting in 2007. And already, an increasing number of local councils, police forces and other fleet owners are stock piling their own supply.
Watch this space? Just mabye…
Update
According to a Cornell University ecologist, the production of ethanol consumes more energy than the resulting fuel contains. “Ethanol production requires large fossil energy input, and therefore, it is contributing to oil and natural gas imports and U.S. deficits,” says David Pimentel, professor of ecology and agriculture at Cornell.
Linkage:
Cornell University news service
Posted 05 December 2005, by Philip Paisley
Here is some information that anyone interested in the true NEV (net energy balence) of corn based Ethanol might want to look at. http://www.usda.gov/oce/oepnu/aer-814.pdf
this is put out by the United States Department of Agriculture it informs us that the actual NEB of US produced Corn Ethanol is a 34% increase. using modern day standards ( I'm not posting this to spite Dr. Pimental I'm sure he is a brillant man this is just something I have come across in my studies.
Philip Paisley