COLUMBUS, Ohio Following reports last month, The Kroger Co. officially announced that it will begin selling E85 at its fuel stations in central Ohio beginning in August.
The first such station is in Columbus. The alternative fuel will be available at that site in August. The company is making station improvements needed to offer E85 in Ohio and plans to offer E85 at more Kroger fuel centers as consumer demand grows. Specific locations throughout central Ohio, Dayton, Cincinnati and Toledo will be announced as they come on line.
As reported in CSP Daily News, Kroger launched E85 fuel stations in Texas last month and is exploring additional opportunities to offer customers E85 fuel throughout the United States.
Kroger Plus Card customers can benefit from the additional per-gallon savings offered on all types of fuel, the company said.
The retailer operates more than 600 supermarket fueling stations nationwide, including more than 80in Ohio, all of which are located next to Kroger retail grocery stores. Kroger also operates more than 700 convenience store fueling sites in the United States.
Kroger is excited to offer this innovative fuel to Ohio customers. We believe customer interest in this alternative fuel will grow as it becomes more conveniently available, said Bruce Macaulay, president of Kroger's Great Lakes division. The division, based in Columbus, includes 245 grocery stores in Ohio, Michigan and West Virginia. We are pleased to partner with the State of Ohio and General Motors [GM] as we work together to make it easier for customers to access this renewable fuel.
GM has facilitated plans for the addition of the new E85 ueling sites in central Ohio through a collaborative partnership with Kroger and the state of Ohio. GM has been the catalyst behind several similar partnerships across the country as part of a broader, national campaign to boost the use and awareness of ethanol-based E85 fuel in the United States.
Ohio Governor Bob Taft presided over the announcement, made at the Columbus location, during which he signed House Bill 245 into law in front of a new FlexFuel Chevy Tahoe. The new law will provide financial assistance to retailers adding or converting pumps to carry ethanol and biodiesel.
We're working hard to make Ohio a leader in the production and deployment of alternative fuels to reduce our dependence on imported oil and focus on fuels we produce here in our state, said Taft. In February, I announced a goal of tripling the number of E85 pumps in Ohio from six to 18 by the end of the year. Thanks to partnerships like this one with GM and Kroger, we expect to achieve that goal.
GM will continue to spend significant advertising and promotion dollars to help generate awareness of E85 flexible fuel vehiclesand where consumers can purchase E85 ethanolwith consumer marketing initiatives and dealer outreach. The effort is similar to announcements GM has already made with other state government, oil industry, ethanol producers, and retail partners in California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota and Texas. Since May 2005, GM has announced partnerships with states and fuel providers around the country to locate, to date, up to 160 new E85 ethanol fueling locations by the end of 2006.
Last year, GM presented Taft with a one-year loan of an E85-capable Chevy Tahoe to help promote E85 in the state as part of an ongoing campaign by GM and the Governors' Ethanol Coalition, a bipartisan group of governors devoted to the promotion and increased use of ethanol. This collaborative effort, which was launched in early 2005, is designed to increase awareness of ethanol and flexible-fuel vehicles, and to promote the increased use of E85 as a renewable, alternative transportation fuel that is able to meet the demands of today's drivers. GM is continuing the program through 2006 and today presented the Ohio Corn Growers Association with a new E85 flexible fuel vehicle to continue its promotion of ethanol and E85-capable vehicles.
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Kroger operates 2,483 supermarkets and department stores in 31 states under two-dozen flags including Kroger and Kroger Marketplace, Ralphs, Fred Meyer, Food 4 Less, King Soopers, Smith's and Smith's Marketplace, Fry's and Fry's Marketplace, Dillons, QFC and City Market. It also operated 783 c-stores, 423 jewelry stores, 593 supermarket fuel centers and 42 food processing plants.
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