It's time US Auto Makers design flex-fuel vehicles to get the most out of E85. The Saab 9-5 biopower shows it is possible.
EV World: The World of Electric, Plug-in Hybrid, Fuel Cell and Alternative Fuel Vehicles:
by Chris Ellis -- 10/9/05
"Let's assume 'our' Saab's owner is based near a gas station with an E85 pump. So most of the time the Saab is refueled with E85, and can deliver up to 180 bhp from its 2.0 liter engine. And its fuel cost per mile is much better than on gasoline, because E85 burns more efficiently and is priced to compete on a cents per mile basis with two dollar a gallon gasoline (of blessed memory). But now our heroine has to go into darkest Gotham, where the wicked Oil Barons live who won't let E85 be sold anywhere within 100 miles. (Bruce Wayne has his own E100 flown in from Scotland for the Rolls-Royce gas turbine in the Batmobile, just in case you were wondering.) And she will need to refuel with dirty old GASOLINE! (Later, when she becomes Bruce's true love, no problem.)
But the Saab is smart. However much gasoline our heroine mixes in with however much E85 is still swilling around in the gas tank, the car senses the new mix and signals the variable boost turbo charger to back off appropriately. Now the E42.3 (say) is fed in, with air boost at a pressure low enough to avoid pre-ignition, and the Saab shoots off into the night. If 'shoot's the right word, because the 180 peak power has now dropped back to a mere 162 bhp. Not exactly dangerously slow, but still a little sluggish. Mind you, it's still more than the 150 bhp of the standard issue gasoline Saabs favored by Gotham's yuppies."
Monday, October 24, 2005
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