E85 Hybrids: The Next Big Step

Hybrid Cars - What's Next for Hybrids? E85 Hybrids.:
by Chris Ellis
"What makes real sense is the upgrading of current hybrid offerings to become 'flexible fuel hybrids', and full support from manufacturers that all new hybrid models will run on any mix of gasoline and E85. Less than $200 is added to the production cost of a conventional gasoline vehicle in upgrading it to handle E85. Congress, realizing that we are confronted by Global Warming, Peak Oil, and Energy Insecurity, has put the necessary ethanol pump-priming into the new Energy Policy Act.
The argument basically runs as follows. Take the current annual U.S. consumption of gasoline. Assume that 'aggressive hybridization' cuts it by a quarter (mainly in city driving), and that a further quarter is cut by better aerodynamics and engine downsizing (enabled by hybridization), mainly in freeway driving. Now take a further slice out for plug-in electric drives, and assume that the U.S can continue to source at least 25 percent of its gasoline internally. That leaves an ethanol target of less than a quarter of current gasoline consumption to make the U.S. 'gasoline independent' again. The United States Departments of Agriculture and Energy have recently produced a joint report which confirms that producing this quantity of ethanol is readily achievable without impinging on the current food producing capacity of the United States."