More GM E85 Promos
22 March 2005
Following on its announcement of providing 28 Flex-Fuel Avalanches to member states of the Governors’ Ethanol Coalition (earlier post), GM has announced several other E85 promotions:
- The company will provide an E85-capable Avalanche to the Illinois Corn Growers Association for use in the state as part of a campaign to promote ethanol and E85-capable vehicles in Illinois.
- General Motors will provide another E85-capable Chevrolet Avalanche to the public-private Minnesota E85 Team, led by the American Lung Association of Minnesota. The E85 Avalanche will be used in the state as part of a campaign to promote ethanol and E85-capable vehicles in Minnesota.
According to http://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/suv-05.htm
The avalanche gets a 1/10 for air pollution even when running on Ethanol, and it gets as low as 11 mpg in the city, and as high as 19 on the highway mpg.
Can't say that I'm wishing for even more Avalanches on the road, even E85.
Posted by: Mikhail Capone | 23 March 2005 at 08:01 AM
Fuel consumption increases with ethanol—not as much energy. But it’s not petroleum-based, so there’s your trade-off.
Posted by: Mike | 23 March 2005 at 10:59 AM
I still find it strange that air pollution doesn't seem to get better. I thought that ethanol was cleaner-burning?
Posted by: Mikhail Capone | 24 March 2005 at 10:56 AM
Hmm, I’m not sure why the emissions score is so low. The E85 is rated as ULEV-1 on emissions, and the studies I’ve seen all indicate reductions in criteria emissions compared to gasoline.
Earlier figures from the EPA pegged GHG emissions from an E85-fueled Avalanche at 8.5 tons per year, as opposed to 11.7 tons from a gasoline version. That’s a 27% decrease...so how does that end up as being the same score? Unless the fuel consumption is so high that even relative improvements are still quantitively poor on the scale.
Posted by: Mike | 24 March 2005 at 03:52 PM