Twin Cities Drivers Using E85 with Rising Gas Prices
As the price of regular unleaded has climbed sharply in the Midwest and elsewhere in the nation, owners of flex fuel vehicles – built to run on either ethanol-based E85 or gasoline – are increasingly turning to less expensive E85, according to news accounts from Iowa, Indiana, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
While E85 is available throughout the Midwest, nowhere is the cleaner-burning fuel easier to find than in Minnesota, with more than 355 retail outlets statewide. Seventy of these locations also have new “blender pumps” offering blends of E20, E30, E40 or E50, also priced less than gasoline. Like E85, these mid-level ethanol blends should only be used in flex fuel vehicles.
The price difference is turning heads at the Holiday station at 202 101st St. in Blaine. The station advertises the price of E85 as well as regular unleaded on its main sign. E85 is also sold at the Kwik Trip stations in Andover and Coon Rapids, and at two Holiday stations in Blaine and a SuperAmerica station in Coon Rapids.
“E85 is almost always priced less than gasoline, and many flex fuel vehicle owners in this region have been choosing the lower priced fuel for years,” said Kelly Marczak, Director of the clean fuel and vehicle technologies program for the American Lung Association in Minnesota. “Today, the price difference is so large, even people who had never used E85 before are giving it a try.”
Marczak said that while E85 delivers less miles per gallon than gasoline, the broad price spread between the two fuels makes E85 a bargain for many flex fuel vehicle owners. More importantly, she noted, E85 produces significantly less tailpipe emissions than gasoline. “The average flex fuel vehicle owner could prevent 4 tons of air pollutants every year if they always filled up with E85 instead of gasoline,” she said.
If you are not sure if your vehicle is one of the 40+ models that can use E85, check the inside of your fuel lid door or check the list by clicking here.
