2009 Cadillac Escalade FlexFuel

All models of the 2009 Cadillac Escalade will be able to run on either ordinary gasoline or E85 ethanol, or any combination of the two, General Motors announced Friday.

And customers will have the fueling choice at no additional cost.

The Escalade, Escalade EXT and Escalade ESV as well as the GMC Denali, join the previously announced 2009 Chevrolet HHR, Buick Lucerne and Hummer H2 and H2 SUT as additions to GM’s industry-leading flex-fuel lineup .

“The success of E85 as an alternative fuel depends on having the fuel readily available and having a range of cars and trucks that can use it,” said GM Vice President of Environment, Energy and Safety Policy Beth Lowery . “We will offer more than 15 flex-fuel capable models for 2009 compared with 11 this year.”

The latest E85 product announcements coincided with the opening of a dozen new E85 fueling stations in the Greater Atlanta area this week.

“We continue to believe that ethanol used in high blends like E85 offers the best near-term solution to offset increased oil demand,” Lowery said. “There are more than 7 million vehicles today that can use E85. We need significantly more stations that offer the fuel.”

E85 ethanol (a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline), is a cleaner-burning alternative fuel that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 23 percent compared with gasoline.

GM has committed to make half of its US production flex-fuel capable by 2012 providing the infrastructure is in place. GM built more than 1 million flex-fuel capable vehicles worldwide last year. It is committed to helping to speed sustainable ethanol to market via its alliances with Coskata Inc. and Mascoma Corp., two next-generation ethanol startups that can make ethanol from a range of non-grain sources.
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Htay7500 - 6/7/2008 5:01:27 PM

+3 Boost

oh great, just 1 way to raise our food prices. this couldn't get any better.

mercuryguy - 6/7/2008 5:27:08 PM

0 Boost

New York State Diesel Car Ban still in effect since 80s.

This has Anti-Trust written all over it. But the American people take it where the sun doesn’t shine.
It seems Big Oil owns the state senators, and the State Regulatory Laws.

Hillary talks about the energy crisis, but has done nothing in her own state to lift this Diesel Ban.
Where is the President Bush lately? On the golf course? The country is in an energy crisis, banking crisis, economic crisis and at war, and there is absolute silence from Washington. What happened to the good old days when a president was required to come on TV and face and answer to the people?

The big 3 should have been building and marketing Diesel Cars with manual gearboxes years ago.
It is interesting, that General Motors failed to sell their junk Diesel car in the 80s (junk engine), failed to capitalize on the Diesel market, and all of a sudden, no one was allowed to own a Diesel anymore because no one would play crybaby GM’s game. This is the same company that strong armed cities into scrapping their public transit networks. Cities sold off the railroad tracks as scrap iron to Japan. Rail was considered an “outdated idea”. Looks like GM cooked our goose for us, and the American people had no say in any of this, we just watched it happen before our eyes. Now there is no train to take to work at a time when Washington is telling the people to “get off oil”. I guess somehow it is the American people who are at fault for this mess. Go figure. There is simply a lack of leadership in Washington.
The government has a “hands off” approach to the American Auto Industry. They believe “market forces” should shape the industry.

Yet the government mandates the CAFÉ standards for fuel efficiency.

The car makers cheat the system by building cheap cars with Nylon screws and bolts to reduce weight. Shouldn’t the CAFÉ standards provide sensible guidance on how to achieve these numbers? Ideas like 8-speed manual gearboxes, touring tires with less rolling resistance, 2-wheel drive and Diesel engines?

Most cars built today are fitted with ill-efficient All-season tires and all-wheel drive because people want it, but more importantly because it reduces liability from accidents. Driving an SUV with off-road tires on dry pavement is just plain silly.

It is time to get back to sensible engineering and designs.

Tonee - 6/8/2008 6:58:43 PM

+2 Boost

There's no doubt the E85 is a cleaner alternative to gas, but they fail to mention that running your vehicle on E85 will reduce fuel economy dramatically. Like say your SUV get 13 miles/gallon, run it on E85 and that drops to somewhere around 10 or 11 miles/gallon. I wonder how many pple are willing to sacrifice their gas-sippers for less cruising ranges and possible more fill-ups, um?

993Turbo - 6/9/2008 12:00:44 PM

+3 Boost

I have yet to see one single, solitary, E85 pump.