OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency cleared the way Friday for a higher blend of ethanol to be sold nationwide for the third summer in a row, citing global conflicts that it says are putting pressure on the world’s fuel supply.
The agency announced an emergency waiver that will exempt gasoline blended with 15% ethanol from an existing summertime ban. Gasoline with 10% ethanol is already sold nationwide, but the higher blend has been prohibited in the summer because of concerns it could worsen smog during warm weather.
It is, old cars don’t do well with ethanol gas but it doesn’t affect modern vehicles. Ethanol is great in modern turbocharged direct injection engines as it increases the latent heat of vaporization of the fuel, which cools the charge when fuel is injected. I had a Ford Fiesta ST that ran E40 (mixed E85 and 93 in the tank) and it allowed me to run the boost to the limits of what the turbo could do. That little 1.6L engine had 300ft-lb of torque at 2000rpm, it was wild. All that ethanol did a great job preventing detonation at high boost / low rpm. The downside is higher ethanol makes for worse gas mileage as it’s not as energy dense, and I believe it emits more CO2. There’s also food vs fuel and corn subsidies issues with ethanol as fuel.
I just got flashbacks to a 2000 caravan I had that had a special label prompting that it could handle e85. Man, that car suuuucked.