Japan Intends to Run Only Ethanol Cars by 2030

on the road be able to run on an environment-friendly mix of ethanol and regular gasoline by 2030, an official said Thursday.

The new policy, adopted by the Environment Ministry this month, will require all new cars to be able to run on a blend of 10 percent ethanol, an alcohol fuel often made from corn or sugar, and 90 percent gasoline, starting in 2010, said Takeshi Sekiya, an official at the ministry's global warming division. Costs and implementation are still being studied.


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chewy - 7/24/2006 1:45:35 PM

+1 Boost

It will have to do lots of importing, as I don't think that Japan has much land for farming or the INSANE amount of land area needed to grow enough corn for the bad fuel economy that Ethanol delivers.

http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?article_id=11174§ion_id=4&page_number=7

1970toyotamarc - 7/24/2006 4:52:53 PM

+1 Boost

There is likely enough land available in Japan for a 10% blend, not an 85%. But the same is true in this country, which is a major reason why E85 is such a joke. We will never be able to produce enough corn to fuel all of our vehicles on E85, so how about make ALL fuel be E10, for all cars, which we can do.

PlanoA4 - 7/24/2006 10:29:32 PM

+1 Boost

I think in Japan they were using sugar cane which is a more viable crop with a higher sugar/Alchopl content per bushel. Still the land mass issue is still a factor. We need to irrigate Africa for Ethanol to be viable.