E85 Conversion Kits

[2000LaDe]

so has anyone actualy installed one of these on thier vehicles?? seems extremely easy. im considering purchasing one for my 2004 Escalade ESV.

http://www.change2e85.com/servlet/Detail?no=124

[joey2714]

i thought GM's came stock with the flexfuel possibility now? or maybe dodge..

[2000LaDe]

most do yes. but my truck is an 04. its not one of those.

[str86diesel]

they are easy to install, I have installed a couple...but E85 is a joke.

Sooo it burns cleaner. It burns at a lower BTU rating, which means your vehicle actually burns more of it then gas. So if you think about it...you pay less for it, but you are at the gas station filling up more often, so you end up paying the same price if not more for it.

Kev

EDIT: This is taken from our local news station

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=37310

9NEWS consumer reporter Mark Koebrich says testers found good performance and low emissions from the fuel, but it does have a downside.

GM’s ad campaign for ethanol says the answer to our energy independence may lie in America’s yellow cornfields.

Consumer Reports just tested one of GM’s flexible-fuel vehicles, which can run on either E-85 ethanol or gasoline. It’s the 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe FFV.

Consumer Reports’ Director of Auto Testing, David Champion, compared how the vehicle performed with the two fuels.

“To actually drive the car, the difference between gasoline and ethanol was not noticeable. They drove much the same,” says Champion.

Acceleration was also the same. With E-85, the Tahoe did have lower emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides, although hydrocarbon emissions were comparable.

Next came fuel efficiency tests to see how many miles you get per gallon in both highway and stop-and-go driving.

The tests showed the overall fuel economy actually dropped when the Tahoe ran on E85 – from an already low 14 miles per gallon with gasoline down to ten miles per gallon with E-85.

That makes it lower than any vehicle tested in recent years. So, what does that say about flex vehicles being a green alternative?

“The vehicles that are made as flex-fuel vehicles are not really the most fuel efficient cars in the first place. Then you add to that, if you run them on E-85 ethanol, you are getting 27 percent less fuel economy,” Champion says.

Edited November 28, 2007 by str86diesel

[str86diesel]

Another news article just out. Again I state...Diesel FTW!!!

http://www.9news.com/money/article.aspx?storyid=81922

WASHINGTON - Anything's better than ethanol blend E85, even ordinary gasoline, a new cost-benefit analysis of alternative fuels by researcher John Graham at the Pardee Rand Graduate School finds.

Diesels scored highest, surprising even the researchers. "We were kind of expecting that hybrids would outperform diesels when we went into the study. It's close, but the advanced diesel" provides better performance and fuel economy for the price, he says.

Compared to gasoline, a driver could spend as much as $1,600 more on fuel over a vehicle's life burning E85, a mix of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, Graham calculates, while a diesel could save as much as $2,300.

Diesels are just creeping back into the USA as automakers introduce clean-burning models that meet new pollution rules.

The study, which Graham plans to discuss today at a National Academy of Sciences roundtable in Washington, undercuts E85 at a time Detroit automakers are lobbying Congress for ethanol-supportive legislation and fuel-economy credits for building E85-compatible vehicles.

General Motors and Ford Motor, both pro-ethanol, are among companies that support the Rand school. "They aren't crazy about the results," Graham says.

The study also comes just as ethanol organizations are ramping up promotion of so-called intermediate blends of ethanol fuel, such as E20 – 20% ethanol and 80% gasoline – that they say could safely be used in conventional vehicles. Automakers currently limit regular vehicles to E10 blends, saying heavier concentrations of ethanol could damage fuel systems.

"Do we jump from E10 to E85? That's not a logical leap. That's why we're looking at these intermediate blends," says Brian Jennings, executive vice president at the American Coalition for Ethanol.

Graham's team calculated the individual and societal costs and benefits of conventional gasoline vehicles, gasoline-electric hybrids, high-tech diesels and flex-fuel vehicles burning E85 full time. Conclusion: Unless gasoline prices, averaging $3.10 a gallon now, rise above $4 and average $3.50 or more the next few years, or ethanol prices drop a lot, diesel's the best overall solution; E85's the worst.

Ethanol has less than 70% of the energy of gasoline, so more ethanol in the blend means fewer miles per gallon. Adjusted for lower energy content, E85 averaged about $3.25, AAA reported Thursday.

Drawbacks outweigh the high marks ethanol gets for adding almost nothing to the cost of a vehicle modified to burn E85 and for energy independence, Graham's team concluded. Ethanol is made from grain, mainly corn.

Graham, dean at school in Santa Monica, Calif., earlier worked at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and founded the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis.

Rand is a non-profit corporation that researches public policy issues

[Derrick824]

I tried it in my '06 Yukon once. It was $0.10/gallon cheaper than regular 87 octane but I also lost 5mpg so it cost me more in the long run. I won't use it again.

[roscoe1129]

I tried it in my '06 Yukon once. It was $0.10/gallon cheaper than regular 87 octane but I also lost 5mpg so it cost me more in the long run. I won't use it again.

x2 got bad milage witha 10% ethanol mix.....although they say its good for your injectors.....dont know how true that is....

[97cavy]

Another news article just out. Again I state...Diesel FTW!!!

Im not sure what diesel prices are in your neck of the wood, but they have gotten WAY outta hand. Typical prices for diesel range anywhere from $3.50-3.76

87 ranges from $3.15 to $3.30

I was getting 9mpg in the diesel truck i was using, just switched over to a gas truck of the same size and now im getting around 12mpg and use a HELL of alot less gas (granted, its company paid, so it didnt really matter to me lol)

[str86diesel]

Im not sure what diesel prices are in your neck of the wood, but they have gotten WAY outta hand. Typical prices for diesel range anywhere from $3.50-3.76

87 ranges from $3.15 to $3.30

I was getting 9mpg in the diesel truck i was using, just switched over to a gas truck of the same size and now im getting around 12mpg and use a HELL of alot less gas (granted, its company paid, so it didnt really matter to me lol)

Yeah, Diesel prices are a bit out of hand right now, but when you compare what my truck is getting in mileage compared to a gas Truck or Big Suv, I'm actually saving money compared to them. My last run hand calculated was 19.2 (partial city, partial hwy)