Bonzai: Thoughts and Expressions

Alternative Fueled Vehicles

I received a new 2007 Mercedes-Benz C230 sedan today to put into the loaner car fleet. Among the paperwork that comes with new vehicles was a sheet that state that this was a “Alternative Fueled Vehicle” and further described how the car could run on a type of fuel known as “E85” (a type of fuel that consists of 85% Ethanol). I thought this was pretty cool. I keep hearing about how these “flex fuels” are so much cheaper at the pump and how it could save Americans billions of dollars over the next several years.

Then I took a look a the numbers that were listed on the same sheet and I was a little confused. The sheet shows the “Manufacturer’s Estimated Cruising Range” on one tank of fuel. The mileage range when using “alternative fuel” is 230-295. The range on one tank exclusively on gasoline is 312-410. Well, I’m no math geek but it stands to reason that the fuel may be cheaper per gallon, but if it doesn’t go as far is it really a good deal?

I dusted off the calculator and did some simple math. I made some basic assumptions so that everything was equal. I assumed a tank size of 13 gallons. There are 2 places to get E85 gasoline in my area and I used the cheapest number of $2.50 per gallon. The average cost of regular unleaded gasoline around here is $3.00 per gallon. It looks like this:

13 gallons x $3.00 = $39.00 (cost of one tank of regular unleaded)
13 gallons x $2.50 = $32.50 (cost of one tank of E85 fuel)
From this you can see that it is indeed cheaper to fill your tank with E85.

Using the highest average mileage for each fuel type, you can figure the MPG:
410 miles / 13 gallons = 31.54 MPG (gasoline)
295 miles / 13 gallons = 22.69 MPG (E85)
This was no surprise as the label already shows this.

Figuring the average cost per mile of fuel:
$39.00 / 410 miles = $0.10 per mile (gasoline)
$32.50 / 295 miles = $0.11 per mile (E85)

This is the part that was a bit surprising. Contrary to what the people pushing this new fuel type are saying, the reality is that it may actually be more expensive to use alternative fuels. If you are interested in actual costs, don’t be duped by the prices at the pump. Do the math for yourself.

posted by Bonzai @ 11:00 AM 2 comments

Gas: Pricing and Demand

I have spoken to several people over the past few years that really want people to change their habits when it comes to gasoline and their ‘gas guzzling’ vehicles. I’m not sure where the doctrine came from but a common item that came out of several of these discussions was that, in order force people to consider other forms of energy, you have to make it hurt where it counts – in the wallet.

Well, here is an interesting phenomenon. Gas prices are way up, as everyone knows, but what about the overall sales volume of gasoline? Have the increased prices caused people to stop buying gasoline? Nope. In fact, from this time last year, sales of gasoline are up almost 2 percent according to the Department of Energy. Another interesting twist to this is that in the same period, low fuel consumption vehicles and alternative fuel vehicle sales have gone up as well. This means that the sales of gasoline had to overcome the reduction of demand. When you factor this in the 2 percent figure is actually a little low. How very interesting.

posted by Bonzai @ 11:00 AM 0 comments