[huskers]

Missouri is considering a proposal that all fuel sold in the state have at least 10 percent ethanol. Can a Prius run on ethanol blends without danage? Does it cut mileage? Are there any other states doing this? :?

 

[hyperion]

I'm not trying to shortchange you and I would post the page if I had an 06 manual but there is a page in the manual on all fuels acceptable. As I remember in mine the ethanol mix is ok as long as it does not exceed 10%. Actually it is probably a political thing and you can't control those.
Some fuel suppliers dilute their gas with it and I believe it is mandatory in some of the farm states.

 

[Hep]

Missouri is considering a proposal that all fuel sold in the state have at least 10 percent ethanol. Can a Prius run on ethanol blends without danage? Does it cut mileage? Are there any other states doing this? :?

Minnesota has a 10% blend and has for years. I get a bit less mpg with home gas than out of state, but otherwise it runs fine.

 

[mrv]

Owner's manual says up to 10% ethanol (E10). Many states are using ethanol in place of MTBE.

 

[G. McCurdy]

Missouri is considering a proposal that all fuel sold in the state have at least 10 percent ethanol. Can a Prius run on ethanol blends without danage? Does it cut mileage? Are there any other states doing this? :?

I believe many states are moving to E10 fuels (10% ethanol mix). Minnesota has as well as California. Farmer's surely love it - although I'm certain your car's engine may balk at it.

With that, you will see a drop in your mpg. Most state the drop is 15% mpg for a 10% mix or E10 fuel. This comes from the fact that the fuel absorbs water which also quenches the combustion (which lowers your mpg although the octane may be higher with the mix). Worse, the oil in the crankcase will get contaminated sooner as the leakage past the rings is greater since this type of fuel has a higher surface tension and breaks down the lubricant seal of the piston-to-cylinder wall (i.e. more combustion loss). To make up for the loss, you'll need to pump more fuel in to get the same energy as a non-ethanol blend. Consequently, it takes more of this new-mixed fuel to go the same distance as the regular blend.

It really shows a mpg drop in the Prius. Maybe not so much in some muscle car: "So what if I lose 1.5 mpg in my 10 mpg Hemi-head Chrysler?" (if they'll notice it!).

But yeah, your Prius will run on it....

 

[john1701a]

Most state the drop is 15% mpg for a 10% mix or E10 fuel.

Which makes you wonder if they were poorly informed or lying, because that is absolutely not true.

http://www.epa.gov/fueleconomy/420d06002.pdf ...very clearly states pure ethanol (E100) is 33 less efficient. That works out to about 3.3% for E10, which is close to 5 times less than that claim above.

All I've ever used in my Prius is E10. The lifetime average is 48.9 MPG, and will climb up again when the warm weather returns. As for the other comments, I haven't seen any proof of that at all here... where E10 has been the only fuel available since back in the late 90's.

 

[hendricks101]

I own both a 2002 and a 2005.

My wife and I took a trip down the Mississippi River last year.

We used the 2002

Car worked great, we averaged 49.5 mpg going and 48.5 coming back.

I live in Minnesota so our gas is mixed with Ethanol (10%), when I needed
to get fuel we were in Missouri so I decided to use none mixed gas.

I was surprised that the mileage didn't change very much. The weather
going south was cool and cloudy and sunny and warm coming back. We did
use the air on the return trip.

My best guess is the MPG improvement was something like 1 or 2 Mpg.


Tom

ps My biggest Mpg improvement since then has been when I changed over to Mobil One Synthetic oil. I have experienced a Increase of 3 to 5 MPG (even in the cold temps of less than 35 degrees.)

 

[G. McCurdy]

Most state the drop is 15% mpg for a 10% mix or E10 fuel.

Which makes you wonder if they were poorly informed or lying, because that is absolutely not true.

As far as my winter mileage goes in California's SJV, my mileage has dropped from 46 mpg to 40 mpg since November when the RFG (reformulated gasoline) came in. My hit has been more than 13%. Hopefully, I can get back to that 46 number in the spring. YMMV.