At Kansas Station, E15 Fuel Reaches the Masses – NYTimes.com

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Intended as an additive to gasoline, ethanol in modern times was meant to stretch America’s fuel supplies, much as a cook uses chicken stock to increase the volume of a soup. By federal mandate, ethanol makes up about 10 percent of most fuel that motorists buy at the pump.

Unfortunately for ethanol makers, Americans are driving fewer miles and upgrading to more efficient cars — or to continue the analogy, eating less soup.

So ethanol makers want to change the longstanding recipe, trying to persuade gas stations and motorists to buy fuel that is 15 percent ethanol, or E15. And here, between a transmission shop and a Western clothing retailer, the first service station in the nation to offer the new blend for regular cars has just begun sales.

“I’m a firm believer that we have to do something. You can’t just sit there,” said Scott Zaremba, owner of the Phillips 66 station, which has 14 gas pumps and four for diesel that mix in soy biodiesel with the petroleum variety. “Being in the Midwest, offering renewables from ethanol and biodiesel fuel are just a natural fit for us.”

Mr. Zaremba and other ethanol advocates acknowledge that it will be difficult to persuade motorists to fill up with E15. Although the Environmental Protection Agency has approved the fuel for cars with a model year of 2001 and later, most major automakers are warning customers to stay away, saying they are unconvinced that it is safe for engines. And the modifications necessary for a gas station to offer E15 may cost tens of thousands of dollars — a steep deterrent to station owners who have no idea whether the fuel will appeal to customers.

via At Kansas Station, E15 Fuel Reaches the Masses – NYTimes.com.

Strange Random Gasoline Quote:

“Kilometers are shorter than miles. Save gas, take your next trip in kilometers.” – George Carlin (American stand-up Comedian, Actor and Author. b.1937)

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