Why are we still using ethanol?

[doneill127]

:stirthepot::stirthepot::stirthepot:yeah, and we can charge the cars from coal, nuclear and gas fired power plants

 

[ovrszd]

:stirthepot::stirthepot::stirthepot:yeah, and we can charge the cars from coal, nuclear and gas fired power plants

Yeah, yeah that's the ticket!!!

 

[Oldoak]

We should eliminate the subsidy for ethanol in stages, and see if it is viable without subsidies. It was a good experiment, but it should not be government subsidized.

No commercial enterprise should be subsidized by the government using our tax dollars. If a business can't stand on it's own, than obviously it shouldn't be in that business or is need of a management change and/or a new business model. :confused3:

 

[kf4uda]

No commercial enterprise should be subsidized by the government using our tax dollars. If a business can't stand on it's own, than obviously it shouldn't be in that business or is need of a management change and/or a new business model. :confused3:

I agree.

 

[Tomtint]

:stirthepot::stirthepot::stirthepot:yeah, and we can charge the cars from coal, nuclear and gas fired power plants

Tesla is having a come to Jesus moment right now.. Tax credits ( subsidies ) are no longer being handed out for their product... and the cars appeal is tanking.

 

[cqaigy2]

:stirthepot::stirthepot::stirthepot:yeah, and we can charge the cars from coal, nuclear and gas fired power plants

How come everybody forgets about the big dams out west???

 

[doneill127]

Important to the western US but overall only accounts for about 6% of electric generation.

 

[stuckmotor]

I'm not an expert on the legislative process, but, I suspect our use of ethanol has something to do with the fact that each farm state has two votes in the senate.

 

[MHarryE]

The federal gas tax is 18.4 cents per gallon. It was taxed at 4 cents in 1932. The federal subsidy to ethanol producers is 4.5 cents per gallon for E10 gasoline. That means since 2004 the federal gas tax has effectively been reduced to 13.9 cents per gallon. When one thinks of inflation from 1932 to today the federal gas tax doesn’t pay for US and Interstate highways. But the federal tax on diesel is 24.4 cents per gallon so trucks, the major diesel users, are paying a lot more for highways than car and most pickup drivers, but they do more damage due to weight. Now consider the biodiesel credit. It’s $1 per gallon of biodiesel or 20 cents for B20 diesel. Confused yet? My wife’s family lives in Missouri and we live in Minnesota. The difference in ethanol Super in Iowa vs the lowest unleaded has been as much as 40 cents per gallon. Super is E15. I’ve tried the E15 and not seen a measurable difference in mileage but the stations dropped the E15 savings so now I use the regular unleaded - E10.

 

[MossRoad]

Cause Iowa comes first in Primaries? Maybe? I've done tests on my car, its a 93 Festiva, 37 MPG, and isn't set up for E85. My local gas station has both available and a few years back it became okay to pump either into the car. Other wise everyone was just filling jerry cans to fill their cars later. I get 1 mile less in MPG with the E85 than the straight Gas - but it is so expensive for straight as to be not worth the difference. The E85 is eating everything in the car that was a gasket and that is costing me money to fix. Thats the cost. I can't tell the difference, unless I had kept records and found this 1 mile MPG difference. Performance is the same at least what i can tell.

You better not be putting E85 in a 1993 car. Are you sure you don't mean E15?