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[Richard230]

Everyone's favorite ICE fuel additive is back in the news again. An article written by David Pitt of the Associated Press and published in my newspaper today is titled : "EPA raises amount of ethanol that must be blended with gas". What really caught my attention was a statement in the article that ethanol blended fuel consumes more than 40% of the U.S. corn production. Is it really worth it to dilute gasoline with ethanol if it cuts into a source of food to such an extent, considering the state of the world's food production this year? 

Hopefully, more electric vehicles in the transportation mix will help reduce the need for ethanol, unless the government can figure out how to require its use to generate electric power, thereby keeping Midwest corn producers fat and happy. 

[Fran K]

I just quickly searched up an article and you seem correct.

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/epa-raises-amount-ethanol-blended-gas-85186380

Generally, the label at the pump says up to 10% ethanol.  Probably not in California but in some areas, there is recreational no ethanol gasoline in the 90 ([r+m]/2) range.  The article speaks in terms of total ethanol used a year not in what min or max at the pump labeled up to 10%.  Generally, chainsaws weed wackers and that sort of stuff say 10% max ethanol.  The twin turbo Ford ecoboost engines pretty sure are 10% max, probably hasn't changed lately.  There is E85 so perhaps the extra ethanol could go that direction.  I get the AMA magazine and they sure don't like the possibility of 15% ethanol pumps showing up.

As far as the ethanol discussion it is kind of political.
there is some byproduct essentially protien that is used in livestock feed that in all fairness should not be totally neglected in the discussion.
There are breedings or modified variants for use in the ethanol is my impression sort of like the corn for popcorn is different.
Sure, land prices got elevated hard to discount this in the ethanol evaluation
The fertilizer aspect, a it comes generally from natural gas, b when it runs off and gets into the gulf of Mexico it makes a dead zone.
Till type farming is kind of hard on the ground long term.  Not sure where we are now a days with paying to give acreage a rest from the federal government.

Best I understand it the only things approved to add to the gasoline were mtbe and ethanol.  It does reduce some tailpipe emissions, who knows if you back off and look more broadly.  mtbe has or had groundwater issues from spillage is my understanding.

The same thing could be analized for turning soybeans into up to 20% of diesel.

It is a comment not sure it is an answer to your question.

Fran

[JaimeC]

Pre-ethanol, my K1200LT used to get 50 - 54mpg on premium.  Post-ethanol, I get 45 - 49mpg on premium.  At first I thought it was due to the age of the engine (the bike will be 23 years old in July, and I have about a quarter of a million miles on it).  However, Cumberland Farms sells their premium gasoline "Ethanol Free" and guess what?  Back over 50mpg again.  Sadly, Cumberland Farms is mostly upstate New York, there aren't very many down here where I live.

Still, since I got the 2021 Zero SR that SonOfAnakin was selling here in the marketplace, I haven't burned an OUNCE of gasoline!  Unfortunately, that will end today as I'm taking the K1200LT on a road trip up to Vermont and then down to the Lake George Americade.  The good news is that Zero will be there with demo bikes and I hope to get a chance to try out an SR/S.

[Sklith]

I just quickly searched up an article and you seem correct.

I know you're trying to be impartial but that stuff still bums me out

[JaimeC]

Score!  On the way up to my brother's place in Vermont I stopped at a gas station off of Interstate 89.  No-name brand (Rob's Gas??  Can't remember for sure).  Anyway, the 91 octane (which, unfortunately, my K1200LT requires) was labeled "Ethanol free."  Let's see how I do the rest of this trip...

[Fred]

The bike I had before going electric was an Aprilia Dorsoduro 750. When ethanol started being added to fuel, it caused the plastic tank to swell so much that it was impossible to mount it on the frame. Neither the manufacturer nor the fuel companies thought it was their problem. 

[princec]

My 1200GSA and KTM 690 both suffered badly deformed tanks at the hands of E5. It's an evil substance. I advise avoiding it at all costs and going fully electric

Cas

[JaimeC]

The bike I had before going electric was an Aprilia Dorsoduro 750. When ethanol started being added to fuel, it caused the plastic tank to swell so much that it was impossible to mount it on the frame. Neither the manufacturer nor the fuel companies thought it was their problem. 

That was a big problem with the original tube-frame Buells.  The ethanol was somehow able to permeate through the plastic that was used to build the gas tanks, but got trapped under the paint.  That resulted in the paint blistering and cracking and there was nothing you could do about it.

[Richard230]

The bike I had before going electric was an Aprilia Dorsoduro 750. When ethanol started being added to fuel, it caused the plastic tank to swell so much that it was impossible to mount it on the frame. Neither the manufacturer nor the fuel companies thought it was their problem. 

That was a big problem with the original tube-frame Buells.  The ethanol was somehow able to permeate through the plastic that was used to build the gas tanks, but got trapped under the paint.  That resulted in the paint blistering and cracking and there was nothing you could do about it.

Riding electric sure solves those sort of problems. 

[gregj]

I will stop riding my ICE bike when I can buy a e motorcycle that will actually do the job I need. ie top speed 100-110kph and not cvost as much as a superbike. After 3 yearsd of searching I am still waiting.
You can buy city speed only emotorcycles ( lots of nice ones) or superbikes. The few bikes that are in the middle cost more than any motorcycle I have ever owned of any capacity.

[JaimeC]

Got back from my week at the Lake George Americade.  Rode my 23 year old K1200LT, and was able to fill up with ethanol free gasoline most of the time (it's more readily available in upstate New York than down in the metro NYC area).  Result after riding over 1,100 miles?  Average 52 mpg!  When using 10% gasohol I'm lucky to get more than 45mpg.

One of the reasons I never replaced the K1200LT is because there isn't a single modern luxury tourer on the market that can match that fuel economy.  I just wish I could use 87 octane like the Goldwing, but that's a minor complaint.

[Richard230]

Now here is an interesting bio-fuel development. A long article in my newspaper today, written by Shomik Mukherjee and published by bayareanewsgroup,com, titled: "Suits challenge 2 oil refineries' switch to biofuels' states that two environment groups are suing two large oil refineries in the SF Bay Area. Marathon Petroleum and Phillips 66 plan to overhaul their existing oil refineries to produce fuel processed from vegetable oils and animal fats, rather than petroleum. The Marathon refinery at one time produced as much as 18% of California's gasoline supplies. They plan to churn out tens of thousands of barrels of vegetable oils and animal fats each day into fuel for commercial trucks and heavy-duty vehicles.

Interestingly, the environmental groups are suing to stop the refineries from converting to processing bio-fuels. Their law suits claim that large-scale processing of biofuels would require massive amounts of food crops, "which in turn require significant land dedicated to agriculture, fertilizer, pesticides, and other energy intensive resources". They claim that this impact was not addressed in the environmental impact report for the projects approved by the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors and approval of the projects should be overthrown by the courts.

[Day Trippin]

I'll avoid the politics around using ethanol as a fuel. One reason why you often get less mileage with ethanol is it I has less energy content than gasoline. Here is a handy table to comparing alternative fuels to gas and diesel.

https://afdc.energy.gov/files/u/publication/fuel_comparison_chart.pdf