BY JIM JACKSON, Times of Northwest Indiana Auto Writer
HAMMOND | Connie Schulz sees dollar signs when she looks at the marquee of the Gas City she manages on Calumet Ave.
It's not so much the bottom line profit as it is the price of E85 fuel offered last week at her station for $1.89 a gallon. That was 30 cents less per gallon than regular unleaded gasoline at most region stations.
E85 is fuel that blends 85 percent ethanol, a byproduct of corn, with 15 percent petroleum. The mix is specially designed for flexible fuel vehicles that run on either E85 or standard unleaded gasoline.
"People are tired of paying high gas prices. E85 costs less per gallon and it's made in America," said Schulz, whose Hammond station joined Gas City facilities in Dyer and Hobart to be the region's first to carry E85. Now, the station advertises the E85 price on its main billboard.
Schultz speaks the sentiment many Americans are feeling about U.S. dependency on foreign oil sources.
However, two concerns need to be addressed before E85 fuel is a runaway hit with consumers.
One is availability. Only half of U.S. states carry E85, and even then the facilities are few and far between. Experts say a coast-to-coast infrastructure of stations handling the specially blended fuel is sorely needed. Minnesota currently has the most E85 stations with more than 100 established.
"Flex-fuels have been around for a number of years," said Nick Cappa, DaimlerChrysler manager of advanced technology and communications. "There are currently only 600 E85 facilities in the U.S compared to 170,000 gasoline and diesel stations found nationwide."
The second problem revolves around older vehicles that are not E85 compatible. Vehicles with engines that are not flex-fuel ready will become damaged when fed E85.
According to Cappa, DaimlerChrysler Corp. has developed software that enables the company to retrofit vehicles currently not able to run on E85 by changing the fuel pump and related software.
America's Big Three automakers will collectively have 4.5 million vehicle on the road in 2006 equipped to run on E85 fuel.
By model year 2008, DaimlerChrysler plans to have one of every four vehicles, a total near 500,000 units, built as a Flexible Fuel Vehicle.