Ethanol Free getting 30mpg

[Pedaldude]

Your saying if I would put E85 in my truck I would loose 85% of my fuel economy?

No, it’s not a linear relationship; also, it depends on your engine and tune as much as the alcohol content of the fuel.

If you have a flex fuel truck, you might not even notice as much of a difference between E15 and E85 as much as the difference between ‘E0̷’ gasoline and E15.

It’s not just a matter of the total energy content of the fuel but its interaction with the engine. Kind of the same with how you can run natural gas or propane through the same stove but you need to change the burner orifices for proper combustion. That’s possibly why the industry testing and consumer experience can differ. Another consideration is how hygroscopic ethanol is, even when blended with gasoline.

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[JJ_Tex]

Here is my road trip for today. It was a mixed bag of driving, but the bulk of the mileage was 55mph, with a few stretches of 70 mph, and about 1 hr 15 min just idling (once was construction, one time to wait for a grizzly bear to cross the street, another time for bison and moose).
I’m don’t know the science behind it and all of that, but I’m very happy to be getting well above advertised mpg driving my truck through the mountains with 4 adult sized people and the bed full of suitcases and gear. 28.5 is certainly better gas mileage than I get normally driving around town.

 

[A Dog]

No my average with the 2021 power boost with combined towing and daily driving is 20 mph over 7000 miles. Around town and highway is 22.5 mpg. That is with max tow, 373 gears and 3.5 PowerBoost. To me I think that’s great!

 

[A Dog]

Plus every time I get a chance I like to give the 5.0s and Raptors a shot at the title lol

 

[A Dog]

My average on the powerboost with 373 gears is 20 mpg with 7000 current miles combined towing.Now that’s not a lot of towing however it’s about 6000 pounds towing couple times a month around 22mpg around town and on the highway. That’s with max tow package and 373 gear.

 

[JJ_Tex]

My average on the powerboost with 373 gears is 20 mpg with 7000 current miles combined towing.Now that’s not a lot of towing however it’s about 6000 pounds towing couple times a month around 22mpg around town and on the highway. That’s with max tow package and 373 gear.

That is similar to my experience. I have 20mpg lifetime and if I’m really careful how I drive I can get 24mpg in eco around town. That’s why I’m so excited about 28.1 with the ethanol free gas.

 

[JJ_Tex]

If anyone cares, todays adventure was 27.5 mpg.
Speeds were very slow most of the time going up mountain roads. The first climb was about 5,000 feet elevation change, which killed the mpg, but I made up for it on the way down. Still impressed with the ethanol free gas and wish I could get it at home.

 

[amschind]

Ethanl has about 70% the energy content of gasoline, so any blend will result in a measurable drop in MPG, but can result in higher efficiency (it turns out that MPG is a highly situation measure of efficiency, and this is a situation where it falls apart). To make up for the lower energy per unit volume, the injectors have to be programmed to spray more fuel, which is easier on a port+DI engine like the gen 2 ecoboost. However, ethanol also has an extremely high octane rating of 100 by itself. That means that a tune which can take advantage of ethanol will produce more power than anything but specialty gasolines. It can also do so while using less thermal energy, but it will still require more volume of fuel to do so.

Stepping back to a more practical approach, where we are charged by the gallon no matter how much or how little energy is contained therein and our tanks hold a finite volume of fuel, we can look at efficiency from a range, environmental or monetary point of view. Range wise, premium probably wins with a 1-2 MPG bonus. Environment wise, it's so hard to say that I don't know. Money wise, the cheapest gas that the truck can run wins. If you could get ethanol free gas for the same price as 10% ethanol gas, then you WOULD get more mileage from that and would save money (you're buying more energy for the same volume of fuel purchased), but in reality the premium for ehtanol free gas will more than destroy any savings in mileage.

 

[Pedaldude]

Most energy density calculations are by weight and since Ethanol weighs a little more per gallon than straight gasoline, it’s not quite as bad as it seems when measuring by volume than weight.

Some flex fuel users have access to really cheap E85 and it’s all a matter of comparing cost/mile at that point.

Another issue in areas where E100 is sold, is that it’s pretty much always at least 5% water, since anhydrous ethanol is crazy expensive and difficult to produce.

Are they still making 3.3 liter F-150 propane conversions? I wonder what they are getting mpg wise.

 

[Josh35]

Local Shell was out of regular gas and was offering 91octane (ethanol free) for the same price so I filled up.
Man what a difference! Same driving routine and I got an extra 160kms on the tank!!! 27mpg vs usual 22mpg.

 

[amschind]

Most energy density calculations are by weight and since Ethanol weighs a little more per gallon than straight gasoline, it’s not quite as bad as it seems when measuring by volume than weight.

Some flex fuel users have access to really cheap E85 and it’s all a matter of comparing cost/mile at that point.

Another issue in areas where E100 is sold, is that it’s pretty much always at least 5% water, since anhydrous ethanol is crazy expensive and difficult to produce.

Are they still making 3.3 liter F-150 propane conversions? I wonder what they are getting mpg wise.

Fortunately for me, Wiki now lists mass and volume in MJ and kWh. It's actually very interesting data all around. As for anhydrous vs E95+5% water, even if you DID go to the extra expense of drying past the azeotrope, you would still be required to keep the fuel under a dry inert gas or it chemistry will rapidly undo your work and take your fuel back to the azeotrope. Further, a reliable, consistent and low water content in fuel CAN actually be a good thing (unexpected water or variable amounts of it are not). Ethanol basically gets water injection for you with just atmospheric water and physics, so in theory a tune that takes into account 5% water content and intake components that won't rust should also net a performance advantage in an engine with variable effective compression, electronic direct injection and variable timing (i.e. an Ecoboost with an electronic wastegate).

 

[Granch]

I drove a sprinter in the Park and was getting some crazy high mpg was definitely related to the low speed avg.

 

[Nasto]

I’m pretty sure that because 10-15% ethanol gas blend explodes slower than pure gasoline and requires a higher concentration of fuel to air to be stoichiometric, any time you do not use pure gasoline, you WILL see lower MPG.

Living most my life near gasoline refineries and having ample access to pure gas, I can promise everyone here that they will get better MPG with pure gas over ethanol blends.

Pure Gas = Lower fuel to air ratio
Pure Gas = Higher energy potential per unit of fuel vs eth blend.
Pure Gas = Better MPG

Driving at a lower speed does increase the MPGs, but so does the Pure Gas.

Im sure someone will argue, if so, let’s get together and make a video testing your theory.

Since the EPA just raised the mandatory amount of the Ethanol blend from 10 to 15%, I'm more concerned about the overall life of the new PowerBoost engine more than I am about the difference in MPG. A concern?

 

[darioa]

I got 31.8 MPG going less than 60 MPH on a flat 40 mile highway and forcing the engine to go electric as much as I could, using 10% ethanol. I've tried 100% gasoline but I could not see a difference (I was towing and got 7.7 MPG compared with the usual 11), but head winds were 45 MPH. It's hard to test since you have to have the same weather and traffic conditions in the same stretch of highway, using the same brand of gas on a full tank (which presumably will have similar detergents) with the same amount of weight in the truck.

 

[huhner5]

Since the EPA just raised the mandatory amount of the Ethanol blend from 10 to 15%, I'm more concerned about the overall life of the new PowerBoost engine more than I am about the difference in MPG. A concern?

I ran my 2015 3.5 eco f150 on e30 for 5 yrs and 100k miles with zero issues.. ran like new when traded in.. granted I was custom tuned for it..

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