PITTSBURGH -- Sheetz Inc. spent more than $150,000 last summer to bring E85 to Western Pennsylvania, but the fuel made from 85% corn-based ethanol and 15% gasoline apparently has yet to catch on with motorists, reported The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
More than a year after Sheetz gas stations and stores in Monroeville, Pleasant Hills and Robinson switched diesel pumps over to the blend, each of the three locations is selling less than half the volume that those pumps turned out before they were converted to E85, said the report.
There's a low level of interest in E85, a low level of understanding, Louis Sheetz, the company's executive vice president of marketing, said Tuesday at a forum on the fuel at Carnegie Mellon University, according to the newspaper. It will be a gradual learning experience for consumers.
Altoona-based Sheetz and representatives of General Motors Corp., the state Department of Environmental Protection and Steel City Biofuels took part in the program hosted by the university's Green Design Institute to promote E85.
Ethanol production throughout the country this year is expected to top 7.8 billion gallons300 million gallons above the 2012 target set by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
Mary Beth Stanek, GM's director of environment, energy and safety policy, estimated there are about 100,000 flexible fuel vehicles in Pennsylvania and some 6.5 million nationwide2.5 million of them GM-manufactured.
We're not saying that ethanol is it, Stanek said, according to the paper. We're doing a number of things, also developing more fuel efficient models, [gasoline and electric-powered] hybrids, fuel cells and all-electrics.
GM alone built 600,000 flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs) for the 2007 model year, the report said. That figure will climb to 2 million vehicles by 2012, provided the ethanol infrastructure grows to accommodate users. There's no extra charge to customers for FFV models, even though more than $100 in fuel system modifications must be made to handle dual fuels.
Panelists agreed that the lack of sufficient infrastructure is helping to hold back ethanol usage. Because the fuel is corrosive and absorbs water, petroleum pipelines cannot be used for transport, and ethanol instead is moved by tanker truck and rail car. Experts say there is also a rail car shortage.
Sheetz's product is produced by VeraSun Energy, Brookings, S.D., in Iowa, then shipped to Aurora, Ohio, for blending, said the report.
To help gain consumer confidence in E85, retailers try to keep its price below that of petroleum-based gasoline, added the Tribune-Review. Sheetz's target is to price E85 at 20% less than gasoline, or currently in the $2.30-a-gallon range, the report said.
We will [add E85 at] other stations, but it will be gradual, Sheetz said. There needs to be more customer awareness. People need to be educated.
To help draw attention to ethanol, the Sheetz Monroeville station on sold E85 for 85 cents a gallon for several hours yesterday, said the report.
Ethanol can be made from domestic resources that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the nation's dependence on imported petroleum. Educating consumers about the use of E85 as an alternative to gasoline is the goal of GM's E85 Fall Kick Off of the Fuel for Thought Tour, the company said in a press statement.
Pittsburgh was the first of six stops on the national tour that runs through mid-November.
According to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition, there are more than 1,200 ethanol fueling stations in the United States.
Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell is a strong biofuels supporter as exemplified by his strategy requiring that all diesel or gasoline sold in the state have a percentage of ethanol or biodiesel by 2017 and that the state be in a position to produce 1 billion gallons of alternative fuels in the same time frame. (Click here to read his Energy Independence Strategy.)
At GM, we believe ethanol has by far the greatest potential of anything we can do during the next decade to actually reduce U.S. oil consumption, reduce oil imports and reduce carbon gas emissions, said Elizabeth A. Lowery, GM vice president of environment, energy and safety policy. The work being done by Gov. Rendell, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Carnegie Mellon is critical to the growth of the ethanol infrastructure.
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