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In June of 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the first bioethanol waiver in more than 30 years, giving Americans the opportunity to use a new fuel called “E15.”
Since then, the 15% bioethanol blend has seen steady growth in the nation’s fuel supply. Today, it is available at more than 3,700 retail locations in 33 states and has fueled more than 100 billion miles driven by American consumers.
Yet, despite its growing popularity, many people are still unfamiliar with what E15 is and why it’s an excellent — even superior — fuel option. So, what exactly is this high-octane, clean-burning fuel, and why is it a game-changer for drivers across the country?
A simple percentage
It wasn’t that long ago that E10 (10% bioethanol blend) was a new idea in the U.S., and the biofuels industry faced the challenge of making Americans comfortable with something other than petroleum. Now, nearly every gallon of gasoline sold in the country has at least 10% bioethanol, and consumers don’t think twice about putting it in their vehicles.
E15 represents a tremendous opportunity to use even more American-made fuel, but the next challenge once again lies in educating the public.
“The 15 in E15 is just the percentage of the bioethanol in the fuel. It’s a blend of 15% bioethanol into unleaded gasoline. That’s the simplest explanation,” said Doug Berven, Vice President of Corporate Affairs at POET.
E15 is approved by the EPA for all passenger cars, light trucks, and medium-duty vehicles model year 2001 and newer. That approval came after a battery of tests on numerous makes and models of vehicles to ensure it was safe.
“It’s the most tested fuel ever. It’s approved for all cars 2001 and newer, and the reason it only goes back to 2001 is because they can’t test every single classic car on the planet,” Berven said. “Model year 2001 and newer represents 98% of the vehicles on the road today.”
Bioethanol replaces the harmful, petroleum-based chemicals used to boost octane, said Russ Evans, Master Certified ASE Mechanic and host of the Under The Hood podcast. Bioethanol is high in octane, and that additional 5% boosts the overall octane of the fuel by another point, taking it from the standard 87 in E10 up to 88. Because of that, some stations label E15 as “Unleaded 88.”
High octane, huge horsepower
Octane prevents premature combustion and improves engine efficiency, so bioethanol allows for better design and performance, Berven said.
“Car manufacturers are making smaller, higher compression engines to get better efficiency out of those engines,” he said. “Since 2005, engine efficiency has improved by 39%, and a lot of that has to do with higher octane and better engines.”
“If you get more octane, you’re building engines more efficiently and getting more miles per gallon. They just run better,” Evans said.
Evans says he would love to see even more bioethanol in fuel and often runs E30 in his own vehicles. “Ideally, 92, 93, 94 octane would be amazing to see at the pump someday,” he said.
Don’t take their word for it. Look to the people who make a living getting the most out of their engines.
“Bioethanol holds the world speed record on both land and water. It is a high-octane, huge-horsepower fuel, and that’s why all of the performance racing leagues use it,” Berven said. “IndyCar uses 100%. NASCAR uses 15%, and a higher blend would benefit the league even further. Drift racing, speedboat racing, all of these performance sports want to get the benefits of the really high octane content of bioethanol.”
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Clearing the air
Looking beyond just the engine benefits of E15, the fact that it is a clean and sustainable fuel has even greater benefits for the world.
Bioethanol reduces harmful emissions by 46% compared to regular gasoline. According to the bioethanol advocacy group Growth Energy, moving from E10 to E15 nationwide would lower America’s greenhouse gas emissions by 17.63 million tons per year, the equivalent of removing 3.85 million vehicles from the road. That means cleaner air for all of us.
To help paint that picture, Evans likes to point out that caterers use bioethanol to fuel the burners that keep food warm at events. Imagine if they used gasoline instead.
“You would have black soot pouring out under the food,” he said.
Berven said E15 is the best near-term option to continue making progress on the sustainability of liquid fuels.
“The only reason we’re cleaning up the fuel supply is because bioethanol is cleaning it up,” he said. “Gasoline is not cleaner today. Bioethanol is clean, and the more bioethanol in the fuel supply, the cleaner it will be. It’s just very simple.”
Savings at the pump
Bioethanol is less expensive than gasoline, but consumers get even more value from it because it replaces petroleum-based octane enhancers, which are among the most expensive components in gasoline.
Berven pointed out that bioethanol is a dollar less than the aromatics it replaces, and recently that’s been as high as $2. Saving money on that portion of the fuel formulation makes an instant difference in the final cost consumers see at the pump.
“E10 is already a huge benefit to the consumer, and E15 is just an added benefit,” Berven said. “At the pump, we reduce the price by 40 cents with just 10% bioethanol, and then E15 typically reduces it by another dime.”
Proving the critics wrong
Critics of E15 claim consumers will see a drag on their mileage with E15. If this sounds familiar, it was one of the main criticisms of E10 when that fuel was first introduced.
Evans said he has not seen that bear out in reality. People who look only at the energy content of the fuel are missing the bigger picture, he says.
“Typically, if anything is lost in miles per gallon, it’s made up in the performance. They cancel each other out,” he said.
Berven agrees.
“You may get better mileage, you might get a little less mileage, but overall, the general consumer is not going to be able to see any difference whatsoever between E10, E15, E0,” he said. “That’s just a reality, and I would say that all cars are going to benefit from bioethanol because it acts as a solvent. It keeps the engine clean. It also burns more efficiently, so it takes less energy to burn bioethanol.”
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‘Go for it’
E15 is not the end goal for the bioethanol industry — it is simply the next step. Leaders like POET and Growth Energy continue to educate the public about the all-around benefits of this high-performance fuel so it can continue to improve the fuel supply, benefiting consumers in the U.S. and around the world.
Evans said E15 checks all the boxes for what consumers want — we just need to help them realize it.
“People want to go to the pump and pay the lowest price possible as long as it doesn’t damage their car,” he said. “Bioethanol is the lowest-cost option, and it’s great for your vehicle, so go for it!”
