How much ethanol is in gasoline and how does it affect fuel economy?
The 138.2 billion gallons of gasoline (3.29 billion barrels) consumed in the United States in 2008 contained about 9.6 billion gallons of ethanol, which displaced about 6.4 billion gallons of “pure” gasoline. Most of the gasoline now sold has a small amount of ethanol in it, but the exact amount in the gasoline you buy varies by region. In general it will not exceed 10% by volume. Gasoline with 10% ethanol content by volume is called E10. E85 is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. The energy content of ethanol is about 33% less than “pure” gasoline (although this varies depending of the level of denaturant.) So your vehicle mileage may decrease by up to 3.3% when using E10. Currently, you must have a “flex-fuel” vehicle to use gasoline with an ethanol content greater than 10%. This may change if research now underway indicates that higher volumes of ethanol can be used without damaging fuel systems of non–flex–fuel vehicles. Most of the gasoline with more than 10% ethanol is sold in the Midw
The 137.93 billion gallons of gasoline (3.28 billion barrels) consumed in the United States in 2009 contained about 10 billion gallons of ethanol. Most of the gasoline now sold has some ethanol in it, but the exact amount in the gasoline you buy varies by region. In general it will not exceed 10% by volume. Gasoline with 10% ethanol content by volume is called E10. E85 is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. The energy content of ethanol is about 33% less than “pure” gasoline (although this varies depending of the level of denaturant.) So your vehicle mileage may decrease by up to 3.3% when using E10. Currently, you must have a “flex-fuel” vehicle to use gasoline with an ethanol content greater than 10%. This may change if research now underway indicates that higher volumes of ethanol can be used without damaging fuel systems of non-flex-fuel vehicles. Most of the gasoline with more than 10% ethanol is sold in the Midwest.
