CAN VEHICLES BE CONVERTED TO OPERATE USING E85 ETHANOL?
A. This is a frequent question that is asked. There is not a simple answer though. In the strictest sense, yes, a vehicle that was made to operate on unleaded fuel only could be converted to operate on E85 ethanol. Realistically speaking, the conversion can be extremely difficult. During the 80’s and early 90’s, many companies were formed that altered gasoline powered vehicles to use other forms of fuels such as propane, compressed natural gas, e85, and 85 percent methanol. The basic marketing strategy of these conversion companies was based on the idea that it was much cheaper to operate a vehicle on alternative fuels. However, the vehicles being converted were made, designed and built to operate on unleaded fuel only. Shortly after the start of the “conversion firms” the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decided that when converted from gas to another form of fuel, the exhaust emissions from these converted vehicles were often much dirtier than prior to the conversion. The use
