Saturday, November 16, 2013
Flex Fuel is only possible in third world countries
Our Captains Courageous in Washington have responded to the pissing and moaning of Big Oil and Detroit and cut back the amount of ethanol to be blended in gasoline. Apparently Detroit, indeed all the automakers can't make an engine that can handle it.
The Obama administration Friday proposed the first-ever reduction in the amount of ethanol in the gasoline supply, signaling retreat from the Renewable Fuel Standard passed by Congress in 2007.Of course, if you believe that "blend wall" crap you probably think Brazilian cars run on fairy dust. According to Wikipedia,
The Environmental Protection Agency wants 15.21 billion gallons of renewable fuels blended into gasoline and diesel next year, down from 16.55 billion gallons this year. Most of it is corn-based ethanol.
The EPA’s proposed biofuel reduction follows concerns from oil companies and some automobile advocates that more than 10 percent ethanol in motor fuel could cause engine damage, a potential issue that’s known as the blend wall.
The EPA said adding more ethanol, at a time that fuel economy is improving, would push the percentage past 10 percent. Nearly all gasoline sold in the United States now has up to 10 percent ethanol, the agency said.
“For the first time, EPA has acknowledged that the blend wall is a dangerous reality and that breaching it would have serious impacts on America’s fuel supply and would be harmful for American consumers,” said Jack Gerard, who leads the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s main trade group.
There are no longer any light vehicles in Brazil running on pure gasoline. Since 1976 the government made it mandatory to blend anhydrous ethanol with gasoline, fluctuating between 10% to 22%.[16] and requiring just a minor adjustment on regular gasoline engines. In 1993 the mandatory blend was fixed by law at 22% anhydrous ethanol (E22) by volume in the entire country, but with leeway to the Executive to set different percentages of ethanol within pre-established boundaries. In 2003 these limits were set at a minimum of 20% and a maximum of 25%.[17] Since July 1, 2007 the mandatory blend is 25% of anhydrous ethanol and 75% gasoline or E25 blend.[18] The lower limit was reduced to 18% in April 2011 due to recurring ethanol supply shortages and high prices that take place between harvest seasons.[19]And of those manufacturers, only the French do not build or import to the US. With the World Cup and the Olympics coming to Brazil in the years ahead, perhaps Americans will realize what a load of crap they have been fed.
The Brazilian car manufacturing industry developed flexible-fuel vehicles that can run on any proportion of gasoline (E20-E25 blend) and hydrous ethanol (E100).[20] Introduced in the market in 2003, flex vehicles became a commercial success,[21] reaching a record 92.3% share of all new cars and light vehicle sales for 2009.[22] By December 2009 they represented 39% of Brazil's registered Otto cycle light motor vehicle fleet,[22] and the cumulative production of flex-fuel cars and light commercial vehicles reached the milestone of 10 million vehicles in March 2010,[23][24] and 15.3 million units by March 2012.[25] By mid-2010 there were 70 flex models available in the market manufactured from 11 major carmakers.[26]...
After reaching more than 4 million cars and light trucks running on pure ethanol by the late 1980s,[37] representing one third of the country's motor vehicle fleet,[41] ethanol production and sales of ethanol-only cars tumbled due to several factors. First, gasoline prices fell sharply as a result of lower gasoline prices, but mainly because of a shortage of ethanol fuel supply in the local market left thousands of vehicles in line at gas stations or out of fuel in their garages by mid-1989.[36][41] As supply could not keep pace with the increasing demand required by the now significant ethanol-only fleet, the Brazilian government began importing ethanol in 1991.[12][20]
The 2003 Brazilian VW Gol 1.6 Total Flex was the first flexible-fuel car capable of running on any blend of gasoline and ethanol.
Confidence on ethanol-powered vehicles was restored only with the introduction in the Brazilian market of flexible-fuel vehicles. In March 2003 Volkswagen launched in the Brazilian market the Gol 1.6 Total Flex, the first commercial flexible fuel vehicle capable of running on any blend of gasoline and ethanol.[42][43][44] By 2010 manufacturers that build flexible fuel vehicles include Chevrolet, Fiat, Ford, Peugeot, Renault, Volkswagen, Honda, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Citroën, Nissan, and Kia Motors.[45][46][47]
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There are two core problems with the ethanol mandate: 1) It's being fulfilled by environmentally destructive corn-based ethanol that displaces food production for fuel production and uses more fuel to raise than is produced by fermenting it, and 2) the vast majority of American cars *currently* on the road can't deal with it.
The biggest problem with #2 is the check valve. Virtually all American cars for the past twenty years have plastic gas tanks with a check valve inside to keep fuel from spilling out if the fuel filler is torn off in an accident or if the car rolls over in an accident. Plastic gas tanks don't explode in a fire (they slump) and they are flexible and they also don't create a spark and explosion if punctured (no metal to spark) so make it easier for manufacturers to pass safety crash tests. Anyhow, the check valve is a plastic ball coated with a rubberized material inside a plastic cage, that rests against the fuel filler inlet if the car is inverted or if the gas tank is impacted and pushed in to keep gasoline from spurting up the filler neck. The check valve's cage was heat-welded into the tank before the two clamshell halves of the tank were heat-welded together, so it is not replaceable.Every gas tank sold on every American car over the past 20 years was manufactured by one single vendor. And guess what happens to every single one of those gas tanks manufactured before 2009 if you give it more than 10% ethanol? Yeppers. That check valve swells up and blocks the fuel filler rather than resting at the bottom of its cage. EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN CAR SOLD FOR THE PAST TWENTY YEARS plus a large percentage of the "foreign" cars (those actually manufactured in America) can be disabled this way. Well, until that single vendor changed the material they made their check valve out of in 2008 after warranty claims started pouring in and auto manufacturers got tired of replacing gas tanks because some gas station got E13 rather than E10.
*Should* that gas tank vendor have made that check valve ball out of that specific material? No. DID they do it? Yes. So what we have is a disaster if the percentage of alcohol in the fuel rises further -- virtually every car made in America over the past twenty years will need a new gas tank, and there aren't enough mechanics and there isn't enough manufacturing capacity left to manufacture all those new gas tanks and install them.
And this is completely leaving out the issue of fuel pumps and injectors, By and large they seem capable of handling higher than E10 without harm. It's the check valves that are the big issue with going to E15, because the check valves are in *ALL* the cars.
My 2012 Jeep Wrangler is designed to be able to take E85 (that's 85% ethanol). My prior 2006 Wrangler, though, would have been disabled by anything that was more than E10. Unfortunately it's going to be another ten years or so before we can say, "well, it's been 15 years, all those old pre-2009-model-year cars are off the road now, let's do it.".... otherwise we have a lot of dead cars on our hands, and no way to fix them since the supply of fuel tank spares in manufacturer inventories is in no way sufficient to fix all of the cars on the road today.
The biggest problem with #2 is the check valve. Virtually all American cars for the past twenty years have plastic gas tanks with a check valve inside to keep fuel from spilling out if the fuel filler is torn off in an accident or if the car rolls over in an accident. Plastic gas tanks don't explode in a fire (they slump) and they are flexible and they also don't create a spark and explosion if punctured (no metal to spark) so make it easier for manufacturers to pass safety crash tests. Anyhow, the check valve is a plastic ball coated with a rubberized material inside a plastic cage, that rests against the fuel filler inlet if the car is inverted or if the gas tank is impacted and pushed in to keep gasoline from spurting up the filler neck. The check valve's cage was heat-welded into the tank before the two clamshell halves of the tank were heat-welded together, so it is not replaceable.Every gas tank sold on every American car over the past 20 years was manufactured by one single vendor. And guess what happens to every single one of those gas tanks manufactured before 2009 if you give it more than 10% ethanol? Yeppers. That check valve swells up and blocks the fuel filler rather than resting at the bottom of its cage. EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN CAR SOLD FOR THE PAST TWENTY YEARS plus a large percentage of the "foreign" cars (those actually manufactured in America) can be disabled this way. Well, until that single vendor changed the material they made their check valve out of in 2008 after warranty claims started pouring in and auto manufacturers got tired of replacing gas tanks because some gas station got E13 rather than E10.
*Should* that gas tank vendor have made that check valve ball out of that specific material? No. DID they do it? Yes. So what we have is a disaster if the percentage of alcohol in the fuel rises further -- virtually every car made in America over the past twenty years will need a new gas tank, and there aren't enough mechanics and there isn't enough manufacturing capacity left to manufacture all those new gas tanks and install them.
And this is completely leaving out the issue of fuel pumps and injectors, By and large they seem capable of handling higher than E10 without harm. It's the check valves that are the big issue with going to E15, because the check valves are in *ALL* the cars.
My 2012 Jeep Wrangler is designed to be able to take E85 (that's 85% ethanol). My prior 2006 Wrangler, though, would have been disabled by anything that was more than E10. Unfortunately it's going to be another ten years or so before we can say, "well, it's been 15 years, all those old pre-2009-model-year cars are off the road now, let's do it.".... otherwise we have a lot of dead cars on our hands, and no way to fix them since the supply of fuel tank spares in manufacturer inventories is in no way sufficient to fix all of the cars on the road today.
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