GM says that half of its vehicle production will be flex-fuel capable by 2012

Flex-fuel pledges is a hot topic in the US as both General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. issued press releases related to this topic. GM claims that it leads in the production of flex-fuel vehicles and that it has raised its annual flex-fuel car production level to more than 850,000 units.

This figure is 55% higher than what was posted in 2006. GM said that more than 5 million of the 7.5 million flex-fuel cars and trucks that are located in North America wear GM brands badges. GM’s 2010 model range has 17 flex-fuel capable models that are able to run on E85 ethanol, gasoline or any combination of the two. This summer, the 2011 Buick Regal will be introduced.
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Steve - 5/7/2010 10:42:29 AM

+6 Boost

I thought the world had wisened up to the "Food as Car Fuel" notion as being yet another Stupid Idea(TM).

Steve - 5/7/2010 10:50:39 AM

+1 Boost

Just an insight for those who don't know:

(1) Ethanol delivers less bang than gasoline, so you have to burn more of it than gas to travel a mile.

(2) That considered, burning a gas/ethanol blend saves very low single-digit percentages in terms of reducing pollution, providing you ignore...

(3) The total carbon footprint of producing that ethanol, which includes the electricity to power the fertilizer plant (90% if it being created by burning garbage and fossil fuels), the impact of that fertilizer on the land and waters, the fossil fuels burned in planting, tending, and harvesting the plan crops, and the electricity (burned garbage and fossil fuels) used in converting that plant crop into ethanol fuel.

As with other "popular ideas," people look only at the last link in a chain of events, and deem it to be a Good Thing(TM)

Joe_Limon - 5/7/2010 11:37:27 AM

-3 Boost

I used to think that too, and it was true with first and second gen bio fuels. But now they have bio fuels that the squeeze out of algae that grows in inhabitable places... picture this... you have a desert, you pump a ton of salt water into that desert and you plant a few colonies of algae... a couple weeks later you harvest that algae and squeeze out the oil. It's like a giant natural solar panel that sucks carbon dioxide from the air. It's carbon neutral.

AlleVier - 5/7/2010 2:10:05 PM

+3 Boost

Not sure what kind of yield you get per acre of desert, Joe, but if it's too small, the idea of irrigating a great amount of it doesn't necessarily sound like it would be without its problems--especially with salt water. I would imagine that deserts, with the exception of those we created, might have some benefit to the global ecological balance.

My biggest gripe with biofuel really is that it's tied to an ICE. My hope for electric power is highly rooted in the simplicity of its motors and its performance potential.

Joe_Limon - 5/7/2010 4:33:19 PM

-2 Boost

From what I've read it gives about 40% solar efficiency after you convert it. Which is better than existing solar arrays at a tiny fraction of the cost. Plus, it absorbs carbon, and it allows us to continue using ice's and existing infrastructure. You're right about the ecological balance of the desert though... it'll probably kill quite a few dung beetles.