- The EPA on Friday announced that E15 is now safe to use in vehicles from model years 2001 through 2006.
- The EPA said recently completed testing shows that E15 "does not harm emissions control equipment in newer cars and light trucks."
- The next question is whether the EPA will approve the higher ethanol blend for older "legacy vehicles."
WASHINGTON — The EPA on Friday announced that E15 is now safe to use in vehicles from model years 2001 through 2006.
The move means that corn-based ethanol can be used to fuel all vehicles built in the last decade. The EPA is expected to consider approval of the higher ethanol blend for older "legacy vehicles" in the near future.
"Recently completed testing and data analysis show that E15 does not harm emissions control equipment in newer cars and light trucks," said Lisa P. Jackson, EPA administrator, in a statement. "Wherever sound science and the law support steps to allow more home-grown fuels in America's vehicles, this administration takes those steps."
Proponents of the corn-based gasoline additive tout its use as a domestic source of fuel that decreases U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
But the EPA move faces significant opposition from many quarters, including the oil industry, cattle ranchers and food companies who say ethanol use makes animal feed more expensive and raises prices at the grocery store.
The National Petrochemical & Refiners Association on Friday issued a statement condemning the EPA's action. "EPA has acted without adequate scientific evidence to endanger the gasoline-powered engines used by millions of Americans in their vehicles and outdoor power equipment," it said. "Widespread use of 15 percent ethanol in gasoline could cause engine failures that could leave consumers stranded, injured or worse, and hit consumers with costly engine repairs."
In October, the EPA approved the same mix for vehicles built since 2007.
Inside Line says: A major question is whether the infrastructure — namely, fuel pumps that carry the higher blend — will make a dent outside of Midwestern corn-producing states. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
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caymanjoe says:
06:57 AM, 10/27/2011
The issue I am curious about is have they changed any of the reports I've seen that ethanol is a zero sum product from an energy/environment stand point? It takes a lot of energy to convert the corn and that's using natural gas and coal powered electrical plants to do it. Besides all the costs to food production and making my MPG reduce, ethanol is on of the worst "get off foreign oil" plans there is - but the politicians from farm states love it and the rest of congress is more than willing to be seen doing "something" to help. But if you hope to save money, good luck. More money would be saved and less foreign oil used if people simply drove slower and made fewer trips. Also, from reports I saw, we simply can not grow enough corn to significantly replace enough oil to make a large enough dent. Ethanol has to go, in my opinion.
tbone85 says:
08:55 PM, 01/24/2011
"Problem with Ethanol is that it's hygroscopic. If you sample the supposed "10% Ethanol" in current gasoline it's very often closer to 15%. 15% mix would just make it worse with it around 20% instead. These idiots all probably drive E85 cars or lease for 36 months so they don't give a crap about the rest of us who will end up spending thousands fixing this crap."
OK. I'd be interested to know what "very often" consists of and the source of the information. Is closer to 15% considered to be 12.6%, or does it measure a full 5 points higher very often? If your statement is accurate, then the 10% ethanol that we often use is more like 15% and has had no discernable impact on the vehicles we, extended family, friends, and co-workers operate over the last decade. While this is no more scientific that stating that E10 is very often closer to 15%, I am curious about mass studies have revealed about the content.
Additional repairs suck. Our trade imbalance and political/economic reliance on foreign fuel also suck.
magbarn says:
01:19 PM, 01/24/2011
tbone85 says:
12:25 PM, 01/23/2011
Since E10 isn't killing all fuel pumps, it makes more sense that the BMW fuel pumps aren't working with a well established standard.
Problem with Ethanol is that it's hygroscopic. If you sample the supposed "10% Ethanol" in current gasoline it's very often closer to 15%. 15% mix would just make it worse with it around 20% instead. These idiots all probably drive E85 cars or lease for 36 months so they don't give a crap about the rest of us who will end up spending thousands fixing this crap.
kosmo69 says:
12:20 PM, 01/24/2011
Go look at food prices.
Go talk to any farmer, except a corn farmer.
fleecing of America
wikiwiki says:
09:38 AM, 01/24/2011
Did they say this to raise the price of corn...which would raise food prices? Food should never be used for fuel. That's moronic. Come up with something better!
cz_75 says:
09:16 AM, 01/24/2011
If we want energy independence, we can focus on coal and natural gas to petroleum conversion, oil shale and tar sands (yes, they're Canadian but close enough) and the use of more diesel engines, especially in light trucks, which can be supplemented with biodiesel. The era of electric cars is a ways off for most people who don't live in a compact metropolis and just need to drive less than 50 miles a day. Airplanes, most likely, will not be fossil fuel-free for centuries to come (no electric jets anytime soon). Turning food into fuel just makes no sense and that's our current solution to renewable fuels.
qdp says:
08:48 AM, 01/24/2011
It's sort of poisonous fruit of dirty politics in the name of science and fuel self-reliance
actualsize says:
08:15 AM, 01/24/2011
Apart from the appearance of BIG CORN on the same podium as BIG OIL and BIG TOBACCO, how the heck is this going to work? Are stations going to be required to have E15 87-octane regular for new cars and regular 87-octane regular for older (but not really old) pre-2001 machines? Are the older cars going to have to suck it up and buy 89-octane midgrade (assuming that doesn't have 15% ethanol, too)?
This isn't like the leaded gas issue in the 70's, where one could buy an additive. Here you'd need, for lack of a better term, a minusitive.
veryhrm says:
09:00 PM, 01/23/2011
i'm w/ @compressor on this one. Specifically, if it's a choice, then fine. Unfortunately the way regulation of the car industry works this reads to to me as only one or two steps from MANDATING the use of E15 the way MBTE was mandated and other "oxygenated" gas currently is.
See for example this old article from 2000. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3739/is_200006/ai_n8899126/
When the federally mandated MBTE was found to be polluting ground water, did congress just repeal the mandate? Of course not, that would have been too easy. In one fell swoop they BANNED the previously mandated MBTE and MANDATED ethanol.
In another 10 years they'll mandate E85. In 15 years they'll ban ethanol and mandate bio diesel or whale oil or something. Apologies for sounding frustrated but i get annoyed at the over regulation of the automotive market. I really look forward to my federally mandated back-up camera , stability control system and side air bags. (i actually like side air bags and bought them as an option when i got my car 8 years ago, but why do we need a law about it ?)
financeman2 says:
04:27 PM, 01/23/2011
Because of a long term lack of a cohesive energy policy, this country has spent the last 30 years exporting our wealth in the form of large oil payments to countries that often hate us; and we have become a debtor nation while funding terror programs used against us. I understand some of the arguments against ethanol, but our need for national security outweighs them all. Many will state that the energy inputs used to make ethanol exceed energy outputs produced by ethanol as a fuel source. Perhaps true, perhaps not; however, energy inputs for ethanol significantly consist of domestically sourced natural gas. Natural gas, which we have in abundance, is used to produce nitrogen fertilizer for the corn and provide the heat source for the ethanol refining process.
The question I have is fairly pragmatic: will the use of E15 void the auto warranties on non emission related functions....warranty manuals for my late model japanese cars seem very clear on this issue.