The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 580
Studies and trials comparing gasoline-optimized engines to ethanol-optimized
engines continue to take place during current times, such as the Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions conducted by Argonne National Laboratories.
In 1998, the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors, and Natural Resources Canada sponsored the 1998 ETHANOL VEHICLE CHALLENGE, a
technology competition that involved engineering students from 14 American
and Canadian universities and colleges. The goal was to convert Chevrolet Malibu sedans into optimized vehicles fueled solely by E85. Results of the competition showed that the optimized Malibus were 13%-15% more efficient than
stock Malibus.
The 1999 and 2000 versions of the ETHANOL VEHICLE CHALLENGE used
Chevrolet Silverado trucks instead of Malibu sedans. Ethanol-optimized vehicles were again more efficient than the stock gasoline-optimized Silverados.
Another way to demonstrate engine optimization and why BTU rating is irrelevant is to compare gasoline with diesel fuel. Diesel, which is also produced from
petroleum oil, is rated at about 129,000 BTUs (higher than gasoline’s 116,000
BTUs). Using Bryce’s “basic physics” logic it would stand to reason that diesel
if used in a gasoline optimized engine, should produce about 10% more miles
per gallon. However, if you fill your gasoline vehicle’s tank with diesel you get
fewer miles per gallon, much fewer miles per gallon…like none - the engine
won’t run. Conversely, if you fill a diesel-powered vehicle with gasoline, you
don’t just get 10% fewer miles, you’ll probably get zero miles, assuming the
vehicle even starts. So regardless of BTU rating, the key is engine optimization.
For those readers who don’t know, there are three things different between a
gasoline-optimized internal combustion engine (ICE) and an ethanol-optimized
internal combustion engine, they are: Spark timing, distance of piston stroke,
and the quantity of fuel dispersed by the fuel injectors. Incidentally, building
internal combustion engines that are optimized to run on ethanol would require
no more assembly time and there would be no difference in costs (there can be
a slight difference in costs to produce current flex-fuel engines, but that’s largely
because of the low volume of flex-fuel engine production).
In any event, the actual difference in MPG when ethanol is used in a gasolineoptimized internal combustion engine is nowhere near as great as the theoretical 33% figure that is touted based upon BTU comparison.
Moreover, the difference in MPG is typically offset by the lower cost of ethanol,
even with the pump subsidies having been removed since Bryce wrote
GUSHER OF LIES. Consequently, there is a net gain when ethanol (E85
