So, we have heard the buzz surrounding this car. 440 horsepower, twin turbo…sounds like your average sports car right? Well, sort of. It is a great looking sports car, here look for yourself.

But something is different about this car. It is completely run on Ethanol. Yes, that is right, E-100. Not anymore of this E-10 blend that you pay ten cents less and get less fuel efficiency. We know, you are looking at previous posts of ours and thinking, you said earlier you get less efficiency with Ethanol, but here is a quote that The Boston Globe got from SAAB; “One problem with cars fueled by ethanol is that they have a 25 to 35 percent shorter travel range than gas-powered ones, Bergstrom said. Saab and other automakers hope to close that gap by using ethanol in applications with cleaner diesel, hybrid gasoline/electric engines, and turbocharged smaller engines, which develop more power than even some of the V-8s and even V-6s so popular in the United States.” Sweden has the right idea. Why are we not propelling the same initiatives?

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SB:   Thanks for the comment.  For anyone who is considering leaving comments, we encourage them, we like to think about different perspectives, and we also like doing homework.

We tend to agree with you.  We also have someone in the Ethanol business, and he suggests that different blends tend to be more efficient.  Somtimes it takes a little tinkering with the blend to find the optimal feul effiency.  This same person that we know has a early 2000 model Acura and he says he got 30 MPG with blending E-30.  Again, your point is well taken, E-30 is not readily available for everyone.  Right at the pump, we can get E-10 and it is ten cents cheaper than regular gasoline.  If you are saying you got 3 mpg more out of your vehical, let’s do the math.   You have a 20 gallon tank.  Let’s take a set rate of $4.oo/gallon for regular and $3.90/gallon for ethanol.  To fill your tank would be $80.00 and $78.00 respectively.  Let us just say you get 18 miles per gallon with regular gasoline and 15 miles per gallon with Ethanol.  So, simple math would tell us you can go 360 miles on regular gas, and 300 miles on Ethanol.  So, basically, for an extra two dollars, you can get an extra 60 miles on your tank.  I would tend to agree with you, that Ethanol or at least E-10 is a bit misleading.    When it comes down to it, that extra ten cents per gallon numerically seems to be worth it.

Thanks again SB, and keep your comments coming.

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