The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 259
So you are burning more fuel to go the same distance which is only partly offset
by the lower cost per gallon of E100.
Reply from MARC:
No, David, you have no point because you are incorrect. An engine (car) optimized to run on ethanol with deliver more MPG than a comparable engine (car)
optimized to run on gasoline.
Go back and read the resource information I posted above.
October 17, 2015
Posted by PAUL SCHLUETER:
Marc, I enjoy reading the conversations you have with people who do not understand the concept of how fuel BTU content is mostly irrelevant to car mpg.
Maybe I can give you some additional material to use in these conversations. I
have had this conversation with many people over the years and it amazes me
how difficult it is for some people to understand. What I find most people understand more easily is explaining that an internal combustion engine is a device
that converts fuel BTU's into mechanical power AKA Horsepower, and unfortunately not very efficiently because most of the BTU's are wasted as excess
heat. However, almost anyone who knows how engines work, knows that long
stroke, high compression engines have mechanical advantage.
When I explain that gasoline optimized engines can only convert about 25% of
the gasoline BTU's into mechanical power, but high compression ethanol optimized engines can convert about 35% of the ethanol BTU's into mechanical
power, this seems to help clear up the misunderstanding. The reason most current model FlexFuel cars have such a mileage penalty when running E85 is
because no manufacturer is presently using an ethanol optimized engine.
Hopefully that will change in the not too distant future.
Ford has been working on some new engines to take advantage of ethanol, see
this link, Ethanol Optimized Engine.
