E85 (Ethanol) gasoline

[wahi]

Old smart, it was Iran (Persian) and not Iraq, back of my mind. I stand corrected. Thanks.

[forestacademy]

E85 can not be used in the smart. E10 can be used per the law. You can't sell a gas vehicle in this country and say it can not take E10.

One of the reasons I won't put anything but premium in my smart is because here in WI I can get pure gas in Premium and all the other grades are E10. It may cost a few more pennies per fill but I go further between fill ups.

When I had my Minivan that took E85 We realized e85 would have to be about 85 cents cheaper for us to break even with the loss of gas mileage.

Also when we were shopping for cars, we always asked about E85 compatible cars.
We found that in order for the automaker to be able to make them e85 compatible the MPG on regular gas would be lower than the same car that wasn't able to take E85. so over all a E85 car would use more gas over its lifetime.

And on another note, I felt the pain of feed prices jumping when everyone was jumping on the E85 bandwagon. You may think its helping the farmers by using more ethanol, but its only helping those who raise crops, not those who raise meat and dairy. They were being hurt by the raise in corm prices.

I also watched a lot of folks lose a lot of money trying to invest in local energy when the system imploded.

[jimvw57]

Using Corn to make the additive for E85 (ethanol) is the worst. the amount you get from corn is the lowest percentage, Sugar has the highest yield so by using corn, it is wasting more energy than if it went to feed or other uses. Just another example how the government wants to spend money on a bad idea. Then force it down everyone's throat to pay for it.

[Old smart]

The “Energy Policy Act of 2005” mandates almost doubling the use of bio-fuel (read primarily ethanol) by 2012 from what was then required. Even more onerous than that is a push by the special interests and their Congressional toadies to increase from E10 to E15.

[SubSlr88]

The worst thing ever foisted upon the American driving public by legislators...

[GHammerly]

E-85 requires a car that can adjust fuel air ratios by use of a wide-band oxygen sensor, the smart uses a narrow-band sensor and electronic tuning to go along with small variations in fuel ethanol ratios. Nothing wrong with ethanol itself but it is a waste of money because it's production is inefficient and heavily subsidized.
Ethanol is a great fuel for high compression engines or supercharged applications because of it's high octane rating and not being used to it's full potential with a low compression engine such as a smart at 10:1 ratio. To really get as much efficiency as possible out of ethanol you need something like 14:1

[Old smart]

Alcohol can be an effective fuel – sometimes. Consider the pre-WWII/post-WWII, Gran Prix Alfa Romeo Tipo 158/159s: 1500cc, compound-supercharged strait-8s. Probably had (and could use) some jeezly high, effective compression ratios. By the early ‘50s the 159M, was doing well over 400 HP on a mix of 98% methanol, 1% caster oil and 1% water. Their fuel consumption was significant though, requiring more pit stops. ///Back in the late '30s, A.R. developed a supped, 1500cc 12-cylinder "boxer" (#512) that is said to have ultimately benched 500 HP./// Not the stuff of “City Coupés.”

When one also considers the Brazilian smarts running on E25, remember that their 84PS, 3B21T turbos (the only engine offered there, and at 11.4:1 C/R) only produce the same metric horsepower as our North American 71PS, 3B21 “normals” (10.0:1 C/R) on premium unleaded.

Dunno how the Brazilian engine and fuel systems are modified for E25.