Ethanol blends lead to higher fuel economy!

A recent study has found an interesting result. LINK

According to this recent study even non-flex fuel vehicles show a rise in fuel economy with around 20-30% ethanol blends.

Interesting...from the conclusion:

"It is notable that the non-flex-fuel vehicles obtained greater fuel economy at higher
blends of ethanol than they were designed for. In the case of the flex-fuel Chevrolet Impala, the highway fuel economy was greater than calculated for all tested blends, with an especially high peak at E20. While only three non-flex-fuel vehicles were tested in this study, there is a strong indication that non-flex-fuel vehicles operated on optimal ethanol blend levels, which are higher than the standard E10 blend, can obtain better fuel mileage than predicted by fuel energy content"

 

Seems like different cars have different sweet spots. Based on their findings around 20-30% seems to be the average sweet spot.

 

+1

 

more gas mileage but less power.

 

hmm.. I'm getting less gas mileage and less power.... I must be out of the 20-30%...

 

Yeah my car ran like hell on an E30 blend without any change in tuning. I kept topping it off for the next week to try to get that shit out of my motor. I really want to see good results but I didnt get them at all. I'll stick to toluene . . .

 

^throw in some VP motorsport109 to dilute that nasty stuff

by the way, do they tell if you if the pump is a E30 blend or not?

 

usually it does. Most gas stations even have the "May contain up to 10% ethanol" sign

 

an ethanol study from the american coalition for ethanol

let me find my grain of salt

 

Here it is:

 

You won't see E20 or E30 around here. They were just experimenting. But in all actuality there are states now that have required E20 for all pump gas and people have seen better gas mileage as a result. Personally I saw a little benefit from E30, but I tuned for it. It was not till I got to E85 that I really saw much in the way of power results. I believe it was Matt that posted a 40 hp gain from E85 and 80 hp after turning up the boost on a Sti and an Evo.

 

the outback HATES E10/E20 blends with 87 octane fuels. I have been having to make sure to get 93 at E10 pumps. Otherwise power/economy goes out the window.

 

The same with the Miata, I get an extra 5mpg with the higher octane's these days.

 

That reminds me of a commercial I've seen a few times lately, where the point of it is that High Fructose Corn Syrup isn't bad for you.... brought to you by the corn people...