Does using a dash cam affect gas mileage?

[Dashmellow]

Here in the US the ethanol all comes from corn. This is basically due to the powerful influence of special interests in agribusiness and the politicians from corn producing states who have pushed this scheme through in the interests of profit, not the environment or the reduction in the use of valuable oil resources. Basically, it has dramatically run up the price of corn which has jacked food prices world-wide yet it takes so much fossil fuel to plant, fertilize, harvest and process the corn into a gallon of fuel ethanol that it isn't really saving any energy resources or helping out the environment in any substantial manner.

It might be more useful to cut back on the excessive use of dash cams.........

Edit: BTW Reverend, almost forgot, thanks for answering my question about ethanol use in the UK. I'm curious to know what it is sourced from?

 

[reverend]

I just had to have a look then mate - from what I'm reading it sounds like we're importing a lot of the ethanol from you guys which like you say is pushing up the price of corn and likewise pushing up the price of the meat of animals which would normally feed off that corn!

I'm not sure what is supposed to happen when the petroleum companies control the corn stocks though and there isn't enough to feed animals and likewise a lot of people can no longer afford to buy meat to eat.

We'll all be living on Soylent and insect protein 50 years down the line :/ I could handle the Soylent bit and do want to try that when it's legal to import, but not sure about insects!!

As for fuel some folks in the UK were using recycled cooking oil - basically stuff that french fries had been cooked in. I've not heard so much about it as I did a year ago - whether that's because it's getting more or less popular I don't really know but folks were trying all sorts to save a bit of cash!

 

[Dashmellow]

I had a sneeky feeling that you were going to say that the UK uses US corn based ethanol. That means than any possible advantage, fossil fuel savings, pollution or greenhouse gas reduction would be eaten up or even exceeded by shipping the stuff across the pond. It's just amazing isn't it? As Kermit the Frog so aptly put it, "It's not easy being green".

I've read that there is more viable food protein in the insect kingdom than all forms of animal protein combined, many times over. Indeed, the stuff could feed the world. Insect flour bread....yum!

Biodiesel, unlike corn ethanol is a good thing and it has become fairly popular here. A local oil supplier has even installed some local biodiesel pumps at their gas (petrol) stations. The problem where I live in New England is that the blend required for cold climates is limiting.

 

[reverend]

I tend to stick to Shell fuel and noticed this on their website:

http://www.shell.com/global/environ...-alternative-energies-transport/biofuels.html

It says they're using sugar cane grown in Brazil - as for biodiesel I don't think I've ever seen that here yet but I did just read that a lot of diesels contain 5% biodiesel anyway now and the likes of Shell were running at 7% a couple of years ago.

I'll keep an eye out as I need to fill up tomorrow and it's time for a tank of V-Power diesel!

 

[Dashmellow]

The Brazilians really have their act together regarding biofuels. They've leveraged their existing sugar cane industry into a sustainable viable use of the crop and its wastes unlike what was done with corn in the US. They are the world's largest exporter of ethanol and their vehicles run on 25% .

Edit: I've read that the streets in Brazil smell kind of like vanilla (faintly) from car emissions.

 

[Nigel]

As for fuel some folks in the UK were using recycled cooking oil - basically stuff that french fries had been cooked in. I've not heard so much about it as I did a year ago - whether that's because it's getting more or less popular I don't really know but folks were trying all sorts to save a bit of cash!

The cooking oil was normally corn oil and the price of that has increased to almost the price of diesel, it's no longer worth the effort.

The other issue is that with older diesels you could just buy a 5L bottle of corn oil at the super market and pour it in the tank, with the latest generation diesels that can end up very expensive!

We tried to ban US wheat imports using anti-dumping legislation, I suspect it is still our main source of bioethanol though, but now imported via Norway! We also grow a fair amount of our own but I think the main crop is sugar beet as that has a far higher yield and it grows rather well in the UK. http://www.britishsugar.co.uk/bioethanol.aspx Most people think we get sugar from imported sugar cane but most of our sugar is actually from our own sugar beet!

 

[mel]

I'm not sure if it was a reliable source, but I seem to recall reading somewhere that at least some of the UK supermarkets have been adding the maximum permissible amount of ethanol to petrol (under uk regs, which I think is currently 10%) because it was cheaper.

I do know that there was enough ethanol in Tesco petrol a couple of years ago to dissolve the plastic lining (also heavily contaminating the fuel) and crack the rubber bulbs in Mercury outboard fuel hoses. One lasted less than one year on a brand new engine, another which was less than two years old, plus a third older one than the second had been bought as a replacement. UK chandlers now sell ethanol resistant ones, although I gather they still need to be replaced more frequently.

 

[Dashmellow]

I do know that there was enough ethanol in Tesco petrol a couple of years ago to dissolve the plastic lining (also heavily contaminating the fuel) and crack the rubber bulbs in Mercury outboard fuel hoses, one less than one year old on a brand new engine, another which was less than two, plus a third older one than the second had been bought as a replacement. UK chandlers now sell ethanol resistant ones, although I gather they still need to be replaced more frequently.

My local small engine repair shop tells me that more than half their business now is involved with resolving problems caused by ethanol in gasoline. One piece of advice they gave me was to be sure to use higher octane rated gas in all small engines.
Another thing I've learned is to completely drain all gas from my 2 and 4 cycle small engines before putting the machines away for winter storage. Come springtime, I fuel up the machines and they start right up instead of having to go into the shop for some mysterious problem. (usually a gasket or moisture issue)

 

[CheckYourLights]

One piece of advice they gave me was to be sure to use higher octane rated gas in all small engines.

I've read that Shell and Chevron offer ethanol free gas in their higher grades, but that seems to be changing.

I keep an eye on Pure Gas and just found Buy Real Gas.

 

[Dashmellow]

Thanks for those links CYL! Unfortunately for me, according to the links the closest ethanol free gas is about an hour drive from where I live, in another state. I do get over there sometimes so I'll bring a gas can along when I do.

 

[Nigel]

I'm not sure if it was a reliable source, but I seem to recall reading somewhere that at least some of the UK supermarkets have been adding the maximum permissible amount of ethanol to petrol (under uk regs, which I think is currently 10%) because it was cheaper.

I do know that there was enough ethanol in Tesco petrol a couple of years ago to dissolve the plastic lining (also heavily contaminating the fuel) and crack the rubber bulbs in Mercury outboard fuel hoses. One lasted less than one year on a brand new engine, another which was less than two years old, plus a third older one than the second had been bought as a replacement. UK chandlers now sell ethanol resistant ones, although I gather they still need to be replaced more frequently.

There have been no regulations on boat engines requiring them to be compatible so they used cheaper parts!

European car engines built this century have all been designed for up to 15% ethanol so there should be no need to worry unless you have a last century car.

 

[CheckYourLights]

Thanks for those links CYL! Unfortunately for me, according to the links the closest ethanol free gas is about an hour drive from where I live, in another state. I do get over there sometimes so I'll bring a gas can along when I do.

You are welcome. If you have a Shell in your area ask if their V-Power is ethanol free.
Chevron 93 might be as well.

 

[Dashmellow]

You are welcome. If you have a Shell in your area ask if their V-Power is ethanol free.
Chevron 93 might be as well.

Thanks! Will do.

 

[Hillbilly]

We also have ethanol in our fuel in Australia. Seems most prefer not to use it. VW suggest not to use biofuel .
Personally we use Caltex fuel in both our cars Polo is petrol, Passat is Diesel.

Our V8 supercars ( Aussie Nascar equiv) use 85% ethanol fuel and still manage to go as fast as they did on straight fuel .

Holdens (Aussie Chev) can use it also with no problems but it is not widely available.

 

[jokiin]

The E85 can give higher output if the computer is tuned accordingly although the efficiency is woeful

 

[Nigel]

The E85 can give higher output if the computer is tuned accordingly although the efficiency is woeful

Not convinced that is true if you build the engine specifically for the fuel. If like Koenigsegg you can get an extra 200 bhp from your engine using E85 then you can make the engine smaller and smaller engines are always more efficient. Of course Koenigsegg didn't make the engine smaller so maybe that is irrelevant!

 

[jokiin]

very common among race cars in Australia to use E85, can get maximum power out of the engine but fuel efficiency suffers when tuned like that, guys that use the same cars on the street often run a dual tune so they can switch between E85 mode and regular fuels

 

[Dionic90]

holy off topic batman!


E85 has poor petrol mileage here in the US. no one really wants to use it as it will REDUCE MPG and retard engine performance.

of course if an engine is designed for a particular blend of petrol, of course it will run efficiently. i know cats out here who use old cooking grease from restaurants to power their vehicles. they have "tuned" the ending to run on it so of course it works for them.

to me, there is nothing like good ol' high test petrol and a petrol hungry V8!!! My fat SUV LOVES it!

 

[jokiin]

the E85 is used a lot here on cars running turbos or superchargers as you can wind the boost up a lot further, not suitable for everyday use though

 

[Dionic90]

again if a vehicle is tuned for it... hey you can tune an engine to run on water.. i think my point is made..