API | Blog

Getting the Most From Your Fuels

Mark Green
Posted July 5, 2018

Every summer Americans take to the highways. It’s a big country with lots to see, and reliable fuels are fundamental to the uniquely American freedom to range far and wide. In 2017, Americans traveled nearly 8 trillion miles from April to August. As we load our cars with sports gear, picnic baskets and beach chairs, some tips from API downstream experts to help those fuels take you as far as possible – safely, all summer long.

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E85: Fill ‘Er Up and Up and Up and …

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Mark Green
Posted July 18, 2014

Check out our new cartoon, which pokes fun at what actually is pretty big drawback with E85, the fuel containing up to 85 percent ethanol that some think is key to salvaging the flawed Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

Sure, it’s a cartoon. But it helps illustrate a real dilemma with E85 – its significant fuel economy disadvantage compared to the E10 fuel that’s the staple of the U.S. fuel supply.

Basically, because ethanol is less energy-dense than gasoline, fuel that’s up to 85 percent ethanol gets fewer miles per gallon than fuel that’s only 10 percent ethanol. Here’s a sample search from the Energy Department’s fuel economy comparison tool, which shows this in specific vehicle types – fewer mpg with E85, higher average annual fuel costs.

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The RFS Is Broken And E85 Is No Solution

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Bob Greco
Posted June 18, 2014

Almost half of 2014 is behind us, and yet EPA still hasn’t finalized the ethanol requirements for this year. This is not a recipe for predictability and reliability in the gasoline markets, and the administration’s inability to meet the congressionally-mandated deadline of November 30th is a clear example of how unworkable the RFS is.

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