BROOKINGS, S.D. -- Ethanol producer VeraSun Energy Corp. has announced the recipients of its 2007 VE85 Awards, recognizing five independent fuel marketers for retail sales, promotion and education of VeraSun's branded E85 for use in flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs). Gas City Ltd. earned the VE85 Retailer of the Year Award, which recognizes the highest volume of VE85 sales.
The independent petroleum marketer is located in Frankfort, Ill., and owns and operates stations in northeast Illinois, northwest Indiana, Florida and Arizona. Currently, Gas City has 34 fueling locations in Illinois and [image-nocss] Indiana offering VE85.
In addition to the Retailer of the Year Award, the company also received the Driving Change Award and the Fueling Growth Award for three of its Illinois VE85 fueling locations in Schaumburg, Shorewood and Romeoville. Gas City's executive vice president William Shireman was awarded the 2007 Ambassador of the Year Award, for dedication in education and leadership of VE85.
VersSun gave the Fueling Growth Award, for locations with the highest percentage of increased sales, to Brookings BP in Brookings, S.D.; GROWMARK's Fast Stop in Waterloo, Ill.; and JD Streett's Lowells Service Station in Collinsville, Ill.
Three stores owned and operated by Sheetz Inc., Altoona, Pa., were recognized with the Driving Change Award, also for locations that sold the highest volume of VE85. Two of those fueling locations are located in Pittsburgh, while the third location is in Monroeville, Pa.
Barry Schaps, VeraSun's senior vice president of sales and logistics, said, "Each of this year's recipients made it a priority to increase availability and sales of VE85 and help our mission to educate consumers about the benefits of using E85. Increasing our VE85 footprint has been an important part of VeraSun's business strategy, and we would not be able to consider it a success without the involvement of these key retailers."
He added, "These retailers have shown market leadership. Offering their customers a fueling choice is an important step to reducing our dependency on fossil fuels as a nation. Their sales growth demonstrates how customers are rewarding them for leadership in offering renewable fuels as an alternative fueling option."
VE85 was launched in May 2005 with seven stations in Sioux Falls, S.D., and is now available in the metro areas of Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Pittsburgh, in addition to the Ohio metro areas of Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo. In June 2007, VeraSun, General Motors and Enterprise Rent-A-Car partnered to open the first E85 retail location in Washington, D.C.
Brookings, S.D.-based VeraSun has more than one billion gallons of annual ethanol production capacity through 11 operating facilities. Six additional facilities are currently either under construction or development with a combined capacity of 660 million gallons. Upon completion of the new facilities, VeraSun will have an annual production capacity of approximately 1.75 billion gallons.Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.