E85 vehicles with mpg increases over gas up to 15% in student competition. When was this? ...1998!

[JohnWxy]

We've all heard the rumor that Detroit auto-makers could build cars to get much beter gas mileage if they wanted to.. Well, here's some information that, while not as extreme as the rumors would have it, does give one pause.

CArs using E85 get about 20% less mpg than gasoline powered cars. Inevitable Right?

Well, in a compettion, students from 12 universities took a stock Malibu, converted it to run on E85 and every team produced cars that beat the mpg obtainable with gasoline (for city driving, 9 teams cars beat gasoline on combined driving). The three top teams produced cars with fuel efficiencies 13% to 15% better than with gasoline.

When did this competition take place?...in 1998!


http://www.transportation.anl.gov/pdfs/C/19.pdf
About the Challenge



Each of the 14 schools selected to participate in the
Challenge received a 1997 Malibu powered by a
3.1-L V6 engine, plus a spare engine from General
Motors for development purposes. Student teams
replaced or upgraded major engine and fuel-system
components for ethanol operation. As they worked
on their vehicles, the students used creative, innovative
thinking to help solve real-life engineering
problems and make complex decisions as a team.
Vehicles were tested and scored on exhaust emissions,
fuel economy, acceleration, driveability, handling,
range, and cold-start performance. Teams
also received points for a written design report
and an oral technical design presentation. Winners
received cash awards, and the best oral report was
presented at the 1998 Clean Cities Conference in
Washington, D.C.

The Winners:

First Wayne State University

Second University of Waterloo

Third Univ. of Illinois at Chicago

Fourth Univ. of California, Riverside

Fifth Cedarville College

~~
~~

"Most vehicles tested on the dynamometer exceeded the fuel efficiency of the stock Malibu, with the best schools showing efficiency improvements of 13 to 15%. In fact, in the city portion of the dynamometer testing, all the vehicles demonstrated a higher fuel efficiency than the stock Malibu."

[lizziegrace]

1. I have a 2000 Taurus FlexFuel

and I've never run E85 in it because I was always told that I'd get 20% fewer mpg and the price/gallon for E85 wasn't 20% less, so I couldn't justify it.

I realize that this was a controlled test done 12 years ago, but do you think it means that my car would do better than I expect running E85? Or is this the direct result of the innovations they students came up with for the challenge?

[JohnWxy]

2. the students made modifications to the cars they were given for the competition.

BTW, a test was done with an Impala FFV using 20% ethanol. It got 15% Better gas mileage than when using reg gas.

THat doesn't mean, necessarily you would do so well with your Taurus. It might be interesting to see if you put a quarter of a tank in as E85 what gas mileage you'd get.

[mockmonkey]

3. When gas was $4 a gallon

I used E85 in my 2003 Taurus and got the expected results of less miles per gallon. :shrug: