CINCINNATI -- Ethanol will get a major boost in Ohio this fall when Kroger Co. begins selling it at its gas stations across the state as part of a deal with General Motors Corp., reported The Toledo Blade.
The grocer will introduce E85 in Ohio by September as part of an initiative by GM to promote the gasoline alternative.
As reported in CSP Daily News, the Cincinnati-based supermarket chain began selling E85 at stations in Texas this week, and Ohio will be the second market where Kroger will introduce it, spokesperson Meghan [image-nocss] Glynn told the Blade. Nine Kroger stores in northwest Ohio sell gasoline.
But Glynn said she didn't know how soon E85 will be introduced in Ohio. Currently, the alternative fuel is available at only one station in the area, at a Sterling store in Toledo.
"This is part of a GM effort to make E85 available nationwide," Dave Barthmuss, a GM spokesperson in Detroit told the newspaper. The car maker teams up with state governments and various fuel retailers around the nation to promote E85 sales.
Details of the Ohio program aren't yet finalized, Barthmuss said. GM's role in the program is to carry on marketing campaigns that "drive customers to these pumps.
Other large retailers are helping to jumpstart the E85 retail movement. In late May, San Antonio-based H.E. Butt Grocery Co. (H-E-B) said it selected five sites along IH-35from San Antonio to Waco, Texasto offer E85.
In order to offer E-85 to as many Texas drivers as possible, the company said, the five sites are strategically located along IH-35, the nation's main artery that runs from Mexico to Canada. H-E-B also selected the sites based on their proximity to major fleet operations including the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the U.S Army's Fort Hood.
H-E-B is now undergoing the process of re-fitting the selected locations with special underground tanks and new dispensers specially designed for E85. The retailer expects to be operational before the end of the summer at all five sites. The locations include H-E-B stores already equipped with gas stations in Schertz, Buda, Austin, Killeen and Waco.
Walker, Mich.-based mass retailer Meijer Inc. announced earlier this year that it would provide E85 at some of its stores with gas stations in Michigan and Indiana.
And Wal-Mart Stores Inc. may offer E85 at its 383 U.S. gas stations, a company spokesperson said last week. Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart owns and operates gas stations at 375 of its nearly 570 Sam's Club locations and another eight on the grounds of Wal-Mart stores. Outside companies operate stations at more than 1,000 Wal-Marts nationally, but Wal-Mart cannot dictate whether they offer E85.
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