Ford says it will support E15 or 15% ethanol in its line-up of traditional, non flex fuel cars and trucks.

Rationale: The qualities if E15 are so similar to E10, that expensive testing and research is not required.

UL Laboratories recently published that they would support E15 use in pumps and hoses currently dispensing E10 stating similar reasons.

http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog2/2009...thanol-blends/

We now have enough ethanol production online to supply 10.4% of our nation's fuel. That equals E10 in every pump in every state. The 0.4% represents the amount of E85 sales.

Ethanol producers have reached a "blending wall" meaning higher ethanol percentage use is needed for continued growth in the industry.

MPG increases in most cars with 20% to 40% ethanol in the tank, compared to 10% commonly used now.

 

Here's another slant on the same story. Seems someone spoke too soon. http://e85vehicles.com/e85/index.php...topicseen.html

 

Well, here's more of the info:

The letter from Susan Cischke, Ford's group vice president for sustainability, environment and safety engineering, to Jeff Broin, CEO of Poet -- the nation's largest ethanol producer -- supports the ethanol industry's endeavor. Broin is also founder of Growth Energy, a new trade group representing ethanol interests in Washington.

"Based on our biofuel discussions, it is clear that Ford and Poet share a common vision to accelerate renewable fuel use. Ford endorses efforts to increase base level blends up to E15 and collaborate with key stakeholders to overcome challenges with introducing these higher levels of ethanol."

Another Ford executive says the letter is meant to "drive consensus around a solution" on higher blends. He says Ford isn't making an outright endorsement of E15 right now, but concedes the firm is not pushing the extended testing being sought by other automakers.

"Sources say EPA is weighing issuing a split or partial waiver, which is likely to come later this year. The waiver would most likely be for legacy vehicles built after a certain year. Some sources say that year could be 1997; others say 1992 or 1993. Another possibility is a waiver for vehicles meeting a certain level of emissions standard, referred to as Tier 2. That would still open up a vast new market for ethanol."

 

This link: http://www.governorsbiofuelscoalitio...amaLetter1.pdf

reveals a letter was sent to the President on Feb. 17th, 2009 asking for E13. I believe 38 states signed off on this letter asking for an increase in ethanol blending.

This link is from the study at the Department of Energy (DOE) on E15/E20: http://www.agandenergy.com/2008/10/d...-with-e15-e20/

This is the actual study at the DOE: http://feerc.ornl.gov/publications/Int_blends_Rpt_1.pdf

Will Ford stop monitoring us with this latest news?

 

"E15 is completely acceptable in our cars,� adds Michael Harrigan, an automotive consultant and a fuels systems engineer at Ford for 30 years.

source: http://blog.kiplinger.com/politics/2...thanol-in.html

EPA administrator Lisa Jackson

stated: "We're trying to move to a different fuel mix in this country," Jackson said. "Corn-based ethanol is here, part of our mix now."
Read more here : http://ethanol.typepad.com/my_weblog...nol-group.html

 

EPA says E15 ethanol prelim tests show no impact on performance, fuel economy:

In Washington, EPA spokesperson Valerie Lightner told HoosierAgToday.com that preliminary tests of E15 found that performance and fuel economy was unaffected by the change between E10 and E15, stating “For the small number of vehicles we have tested at this time, we are not seeing any noticeable differences.”

 

This link: http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/editor/guest/2008/11/11/mid-level-ethanol-blends-the-impact-on-automakers/

essentially states GM is ok with conventional vehicles running up to E15. The GM official making these statements is Coleman Jones who is GM biofuels manager.