"GMC 2WD, flexfuel (uses E85) 15/20, 11/15 on E85" That's nice! 4-5 less MPG on ethanol. That's gonna be as popular as the first V8-6-4 was, IOW 2 model years at best before it's scrapped. I wonder how popular these hybrids will be a few years down the line when the battery packs start failing and need replacement at $2-3k a pop.
Gas is $5.95 a gallon here in germany.. and that isn't even highest in europe. In the netherlands it's around $6.70. Greece and poland have the lowest prices, gas is "only" $4.60 there.
First of all, I know you got something wrong here. The flex fuel setup is not available on the 2WD, only on the 4WD. Also I know ethanol gets a bit less than gas in MPG but I heard 5-10% and in some cars no noticeable difference. Where did you get those figures? I got my 16/21 MPG on a 2007 GMC Yukon 4WD from consumersguide online which I think would be a more reliable source than any, the 2WD is listed as 22 MPG. Since it uses 85% ethanol it is using gas at a rate of 120 MPG. In 2008 they will be full hybrids and increase another 25% in MPG with a electronically controlled variable transmission except it has none of those cheap belts and pulleys that Toyota uses in their continuously variable transmission. Ethanol is a viable alternative when you consider it can be made from waste. Also when you add switchgrass to the deal it can be enough to wipe out oil by itself. The big deal that I think can happen is QTWW currently working with GM on a plug-in version of hybrids. Once they improve this so you can get 50 miles on a charge without using a drop of oil, this is when you can say bye bye to big oil.
Nope, straight off the GM website is the claim that E85 cars have about a 25% reduction in MPG. That is a pretty big reduction, especially when you consider that E85 currently costs more to buy. So by using E85 people are spending upwards of 30% more on gas. Also, the current production of this fuel uses almost 15% of the U.S. corn crop. Relatively speaking there are only a handful of these cars on the road. There are about 140MM automobiles in the U.S. and only a couple million are E85. That's a ratio of 70:1. If the majority of cars run on E85, that will use up every possible grain crop we've got. That's when supply/demand makes E85 overly priced just like gasoline will be. Electronic hybrids don't provide enough torque, and maintenance is too expensive. I see people wanting to stick with combustion engines. When it comes down to it, the only long term viable source of fuel for a combustion engine is hydrogen. Completely renewable and environmentally friendly. When you burn it, the byproduct is water. Then you can split that water again and reburn the hydrogen. There are currently several companies worldwide that are working on this technology. I wish they'd hurry up.
e85 is cheaper than straight gas. we have e85 stations all over my town. last i saw e85 cost 2.20 and regular gas cost 2.56. i have run the numbers. when you consider the mileage difference regular gas and e85 both cost the same to operate a vehicle per mile.
We should all go back to driving bicycles..... People in this country could use the exercise, no doubt...
It's not too late to get into good Oil Sands related stocks and Ethanol / Alternative energy stocks. Some senarios apparently take crude prices to $262 / barrel. http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/27/news/international/pluggedin_fortune/index.htm