Employee Training Guide - E85 Information

Information on E85

Information on FFVs

What is Ethanol?

E85 is the term for motor fuel blends of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Ethanol is an alcolhol-based fuel derived from corn or other biomass products. E85 is an alternative fuel as defined by the U.S. Department of Energy. In addition, ethanol is a renewable fuel.

A renewable fuel is one that can be produced again and again. Ethanol can be produced from plant matter that can be grown as often as necessary. Petroleum gasoline, on the other hand, is nonrenewable - once it's gone, it's gone!

Ethanol can be (and is) produced domestically in the United States and even Ohio, rather than imported from overseas. Thus, the fuel supports the domestic economy and local jobs. You can learn more about E85's benefits to the national economy here.

Ethanol is also environmentally friendly. E85 has the highest oxygen content of any transportation fuel available today, making it burn cleaner than gasoline. Fewer exhaust emissions result in reduced production of smog and a decline in respiratory illness associated with poor air quality. E85 also reduces greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide, the main contributor to global warming, as much as 39 to 46 percent compared to gasoline (Nationl Ethanol Vehicle Coalition). Also, because ethanol is an alcohol, it can quickly be degraded in water in the event of a spill.

To learn more about E85's environmental benefits, please visit the NEVC website.

Fuel from alcohol was the original fuel used in Model-T vehicles. Designed with an adjustable carburetor and a spark advance, the Model-T could switch from gasoline to alcohol to kerosene as needed. In fact, in 1925 Henry Ford told a New York Times reporter that ethyl alcohol was positioned to redefine American life. "The fuel of the future is going to come from fruit like that sumac out by the road, or from apples, weeds, sawdust -- almost anything," Ford said. "There is fuel in every bit of vegetable matter that can be fermented. There's enough alcohol in one year's yield of an acre of potatoes to drive the machinery necessary to cultivate the fields for a hundred years." ("Ford Predicts Fuel from Vegetation," New York Times, Sept. 20, 1925, p. 24). American farmers embraced the vision of new markets for farm products, especially alcohol fuel.

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