Why would Ford not supply the E85-capable flex-fuel version to Thailand? Cost?

A related question, what percentage ethanol can conventional, unmodified engines handle? E5? E10? As an aside, I was saddened to see that VW now only allows B5 in their diesel engines (without voiding warranty).

Probably fueling infrastructure and availability of ethanol. The country is making a push for E20, not E85.

All cars in the US are manufacturer-approved for blends up to E10. Nor should modern cars have a problem with deterioration of some elastomers (rubber-like parts) and metal in fuel system components. Automakers upgraded their fuel systems after the introduction of ethanol in the 1980s.

There isn’t a lot of experience here with burning E20 in conventional cars, although you’re not likely (although that’s not a guarantee) to harm the engine components. As you increase the ethanol percentage toward E85, you’ll not get optimum performance without modifications to the fuel injection system that let it distinguish the type of fuel being used.

On an E85 website I recently read about someone using E85 in a non flex vehicle. So far, so good. The plan is to tear down the engine at 100,000 miles to check for anything unusual. I suspect the engine would be in better shape because ethanol burns so much cleaner than gasoline which would cause less blow-by contamination of the oil.

Many carmakers only allow B5 and even more dont recommend Biodiesel at all. Like Toyota, no matter how good how fuel save they say their D-4D is but you still use biodiesel at your own risk. I am almost feel disappointed when i get to know this. :(

Tom, what website is that? As what i know, ethanol burn less violencely then gasoline. Therefore, less wear on the cylinders. And ethanol is a better fuel to turbo charge and higher compression(ie higher efficiency). You get the real ethanol power if you get a car that specially designed to drink ethanol, like Saab Biopower turbo.

Otherwise E85 simply means lower power and lower mpg. And also higher cost. Doesnt make sense to most users.

Ethanol also has less J/kg than gasoline, which means running ethanol in a gasoline-only engine will give you a leaner mix, with all of the problems associated with that.