September 07, 2010
Valero is expanding the availability of E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent convention
Published in Houston Chronicle
Taxi driver Dwight "Barron" Jones zipped into a Valero Corner Store in San Antonio last week when he saw fuel was selling for $2.199 a gallon.
The startling price — 27 cents cheaper than regular gasoline - was for E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent conventional gasoline.
Jones has used the blend in the past at other E85 pumps in San Antonio, and said he was glad to see a new one.
"I think this will save me a little bit of money," said Jones, who owns his taxi, a 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan, and often fills up twice a day.
The use of E85 is about to get more exposure, as San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corp. recently announced it will add E85 pumps to all of its new Valero Corner Stores as they're built throughout its system, as well as at some existing stores when they undergo major renovations.
Houston stores will be affected, but Valero spokesman Bill Day did not have a timeframe for rolling out E85 in the area. Valero doesn't plan to introduce E85 at all existing stores because of the cost of adding new underground storage tanks and dispensers, Day said.
Several Kroger locations and at least two H-E-B stores sell E85 in the Houston area, according to the website of Growth Energy, an association of ethanol producers.
Ethanol is a renewable fuel made from corn or grain products that helps reduce polluting emissions.
Vehicles burning E85 get lower fuel mileage than with gasoline because ethanol has a lower energy density. Yet E85 has a higher octane rating than premium gasoline, and that can boost horsepower.
Many motorists don't realize that conventional gasoline may contain up to 10 percent ethanol, although pumps clearly display that information.
Many auto manufacturers produce flex-fuel vehicles that can run on E85 or conventional gasoline. On-board diagnostic equipment detects which fuel is in the tank so the driver can fill up with gasoline one time and E85 the next without causing a problem - even if the tank still has conventional gasoline in it.
General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have committed to having 50 percent or more flex-fuel vehicles by model year 2012, a spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association said.
Ethanol's price is ....
