Congressmen Want 80 Percent of New Vehicles Flex-Fuel Compatible by 2015

Congressmen Want 80 Percent of New Vehicles Flex-Fuel Compatible by 2015

Although it contains less energy than gasoline and thus cuts into fuel economy for vehicles that use it, ethanol helps replace gas and that makes it a valuable tool in the national effort to wean ourselves from petroleum-based fuels.

We don't believe it is particularly green, either, but none of this has kept ethanol from being the favored alt fuel of a whole lot of people.

In the latest pro-ethanol move we're aware of, a bipartisan group of congress members has just introduced a bill that would require by 2015 that 80 percent of all new autos and light trucks sold or manufacturers in the U.S. be capable of running on either E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, or M85, a methanol-gasoline blend in the same proportions.

(Methanol, a close cousin of ethanol, is widely used as a racing fuel, primarily for safety reasons - it is less flammable than gasoline. But is has even less energy content than ethanol.)

The measure, H.R. 1476, would require half of the new cars and light trucks sold or built here in 2012 to be E85 or M85 flex-fuel capable, ratcheting up to 80 percent three years later.

The bil is being backed by Reps. Eliot Engel and Steve Israel, New york Democrats, and Republicans Roscoe Bartlett, or Maryland, and Bob Inglis, or South Carolina.

Engel, an ethanol enthusiast who introduced similar legislation last year (it didn't make it into the 2008 energy bill) said he hoped the new measure would become part of an energy legislation package the House is expected to consider later this year.

While automakers routinely oppose mandates, Ford, GM and Chrysler all have said they would make half their fleets flex-fuel capable by 2012.  No word on how willing they are to go to the 80 percent mark H.R. 1476 would require of them and of most foreign automakers.

It is not terribly costly to alter gasoline engines at the factory to run on higher levels of ethanol (most gas today is either 5 percent or 10 percent ethanol, which is used as an oxygenating agent); but the alcohol-based fuel is corrosive and can cause problems in vehicles not built to use it in high concentrations.

So far, there are only about 1,900 E85 pumps and a negligible number of methanol pumps in the entire U.S. Ethanol backers say increasing the number of flex-fuel vehicles would encourage development of alternative fuels and a retail distribution system for them.

John O'Dell:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.