Monday, August 31, 2009

Tank #48

Date: 8/20/2009
Gallons E85: 6.036 @ $2.40
Gallons regular: 8.161 @ $2.50
Leftover: 2.203 gallons
Ethanol content: 39.32%
Octane: 93.98956361

I filled up at Gas City in Hammond. Their pricing totally sucks, but I was close by when the gas light went on.

I continue to run right under E40, and the car is running fantastic. LTFT is 21 to 22, no CELs. No hesitation or hard starting. You'd be hard pressed to know that the tank was nearly half ethanol.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Tank #47

Filled up on 8/7/2009:

Gallons E85: 6.017 @ $2.30/ gallon
Gallons regular: 8.225 @ 2.58/ gallon
Gallons left: 2.158 @ 39.64% ethanol

Ethanol content: 39.22%
Octane: 93.83178052

Tank #46:
MPG:23.2
Average MPH: 34

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

E85 anniversary!

I've been running E85 in my Saab for a year and a half. I've had the car for 2 years.

The car has 20k miles on it, and I've put about 15k miles on it with E85 mixes anywhere from E20 to E55. I averaged 32.5% ethanol over the entire time frame, and lately I've been running E40 exclusively.

So much for ethanol eating a hole in your gas tank, fuel lines, engine block, whatever.

What you're really getting when you mix your own E40

I went on vacation the other weekend. Because I've got a minivan full of kids, overloaded with all their crap, and I love to drive fast, I fill up the van with premium fuel.

I want as much power to pass as I can get!

So on my travels, I stopped at Shell to gas up.

Lo and behold... Shell sells 94 octane gasoline. It was 10 cents more per gallon than 93, which is 10 cents more than 89, which is 10 cents more than 87.

What do I get when I mix my own E40? 94 octane.

I'm going to have to redo my cost savings calculations to reflect that 94 octane is 30 cents a gallon more than 87, instead of doing it based on the 20 cent premium that 93 costs.

Tank #46

Filled up on 7/23/2009:

Gallons E85: 6.025 @ $2.16
Gallons regular: 8.003 @ 2.33
Gallons left: 2.372 @ 39.65% ethanol

Ethanol content: 39.64%
Octane: 93.94805018

Tank #45:
MPG:23
Average MPH: 30

Tank #45

Filled up on 7/7/2009:

Gallons E85: 6 @ $2.16
Gallons regular: 7.956 @ 2.34
Gallons left: 2.444 @ 39.57% ethanol

Ethanol content: 39.65%
Octane: 94.28779156

Tank #44:
MPG:23
Average MPH: 30

Good E85 pricing near Lafayette, Indiana

I found a Family Express between Lafayette and Delphi that had E85 at $2.09 when regular was at $2.48. Not bad!

Of course, I was driving my wife's van, and she doesn't let me put E85 in it!

Update: rerunning my "What should E85 cost" spreadsheet, $2.09 is a fair price, within the range that E85 should cost ($2-$2.11 a gallon).