Flex fuel vehicles are vehicles that are designed to run on gasoline or a blend of gasoline and ethanol (up to 85%). The Rationale behind manufacturers building flex fuel vehicles is that they receive fuel economy credits that allow them to build other vehicles that are simply gas guzzlers, for a lack of a better term, and that are more profitable, such as trucks and SUVs.
Despite the advantage of energy independence that goes along with flex fuel vehicles, there remains a few disadvantages, and it seems as if the government grossly overlooked a few key issues with the flex fuel vehicle concept. But in the interest of fairness, it must be noted that flex fuel vehicles are important because it gives consumers options and it allows nations to free themselves of foreign oil.
Interesting Fact - The First Flex Fuel Vehicle
The first flex fuel vehicle was the Model T, created by Henry Ford in the early 1900's. The model T's engine could run on either gasoline or ethanol and only needed re-jetting when using ethanol. To read more about Henry Ford go here.
Flex Fuel Vehicle Issues
The issues with flex fuel vehicles are not particularly attributable to them, but rather to infrastructure, government policy, and the greediness of automobile companies. All of these issues will be looked at separately. Despite the fact that automobile manufacturers produce flex fuel vehicles, the majority of the owners of flex fuel vehicles don't even know that their vehicles can operate on an alternative fuel.
Even if consumers did know their vehicles capability, it isn't likely that they would have a location to fuel at. According to the Alternate Fuels & Advanced Vehicles Data center, there are approximately 1937 e85 gas stations where e85 is purchasable, as of October 2009. For e85 to be truly successful, more gas stations need to offer it.
The Flex Fuel Vehicle Contradiction
Car manufacturers receive fuel economy "credits" by selling flex fuel vehicles. These credits go toward the reduction or elimination of fines that would otherwise be issues for vehicles in the manufacturers fleet that don't conform to corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards.
This concept is fundamentally flawed because vehicles running on e85 actually get worse gas mileage than when running on gasoline. This has been proven over and over again by independent testing conducted by Edmunds, Consumer Reports, and a myriad of other organizations. And according to Fueleconomy.gov, a definitive resource on alternative fuels, states that "FFVs typically get about 20-30% fewer miles per gallon when used with E85."
What is more, is that ethanol costs more than gasoline. What this means is that owners of flex fuel vehicles are more prone to purchasing gasoline than ethanol, therefore defeating the purpose of a flex fuel vehicle. This situation will be rectified if the production of ethanol becomes more cost effective and if the use of ethanol in internal combustion engines becomes more efficient.
The Final Word
The EPA and CARB (California Air Resources Board) are pressing down on automobile manufacturers to create vehicles that imprint a smaller carbon footprint. The manufacturers are pushing flex fuel vehicles in an attempt to create vehicles that pollute less.
However, the issue remains two-fold, there aren't enough gas stations that sell e-85 and the public isn't informed enough about e-85 and whether or not their vehicle is suited to run on e-85. Simply put, the United States' infrastructure is not prepared, as of yet, to be a society that runs on corn or any other renewable resource.
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