Drive Across US on 10 Gallons of Gas?

[EdmondLeaf]

Tennessee Professor Tries to Drive Across US on 10 Gallons of Gas
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technol...ries-to-drive-across-us-on-10-gallons-of-gas/
current E85 price is $3.72/gallon

 

[adric22]

Tennessee Professor Tries to Drive Across US on 10 Gallons of Gas
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technol...ries-to-drive-across-us-on-10-gallons-of-gas/

The article is quite ambiguous. I'm still trying to figure out what is powering his modified Prius.

 

[EdmondLeaf]

That’s why he switched to E95; otherwise the trip would be gasoline-free.

can't find current price for pure ethanol, average price for E85 is $3.21
I believe right now Ingineer with range extender trailer can do that trip with 0 gallons of gas and way cheaper

 

[Herm]

The article is quite ambiguous. I'm still trying to figure out what is powering his modified Prius.

Its clearly E95

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

sounds like a combination of gasoline, ethanol and hydrogen to me. i am guessing details will be provided if he is successful. i am betting we will hear nothing if he fails.

 

[Rokeby]

Note that the claim is to use 10 gallons of gasoline, not 10 gallons of fuel.

From the article:

Cliff Ricketts is on a mission. He is trying to drive across the country,
from Savannah, Ga., to Long Beach, Calif., on less than 10 gallons of gasoline...

Ricketts, with some small research grants and help from MTSU students, has
refitted three used cars — two Toyota Priuses and a 1994 Toyota Tercel —
to run on compressed hydrogen, batteries, or E95, which is mostly ethanol
with a little conventional gasoline mixed in...

I think he's referring to the small amount of "conventional gasoline" in the E95.

If E95 means 95% ethanol and 5% gasoline, he's talking about 200 gallons of fuel,
but only 10 gallons of gas. Clever.

A little bit of hype/spin/ambiguity goes a long way...

On average the prevailing winds blow from west to east.
It appears that he's traveling from east to west. PPP.

I wonder what average speed he will set.
In a Prius max MPGs is 20-25 MPH.

 

[travisty]

Get back to me when it takes less petroleum to make one gallon E95 (currently something like 3 gallons petroleum for one gallon E85/95)

And forget about electrolisys for water->H2.
1) Water is already becoming a limited resource (never use food/water for anything else besides food/water (same applies to E85/95))
2) The inefficiency of the process makes it ridiculous. Just use the electricity generated straight out.

 

[Herm]

Get back to me when it takes less petroleum to make one gallon E95 (currently something like 3 gallons petroleum for one gallon E85/95)

Ok, I'm getting back to you.. it takes about 1 gallon of diesel to make 21 gallons of 100% pure ethanol. Other energy sources are used to dry out ethanol, usually NG or coal.. and some plants burn corn cobs to generate the industrial heat needed. EROI can be as high as 2:1 on the advanced corn ethanol mills. The energy used includes making the ammonia fertilizer, harvesting and transporting the corn and so on.

Corn ethanol is a practical way to convert our plentiful supplies of sunlight, NG and coal into liquid fuel.. plus also keeping out farmers productively employed instead of collecting price support payments.

Growing corn in California to make ethanol is a travesty.. I hope no one is doing that.