What are flex-fuel vehicles? All you need to know about E85 cars

E85 is the official name for flex-fuel. It has 85 percent ethanol fuel and 15 percent gasoline or other hydrocarbon by volume.

Nitin Gadkari, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways, is set to unveil the world's first Toyota Innova that runs entirely on ethanol on August 29th.

The launch is in line with the government's policy drive to decrease India's dependency on imported petroleum and shift away from fossil fuels.

What are flex-fuel vehicles?

A flexible-fuel vehicle (FFV) is an alternative fuel vehicle that has an internal combustion engine designed to run on more than one fuel. This is usually gasoline blended with either ethanol or methanol fuel, and both fuels are stored in the same common tank.

Terminology

E85 is the official name for flex-fuel. It has 85 percent ethanol fuel and 15 percent gasoline or other hydrocarbon by volume.

Also Read | Nitin Gadkari to launch world's first ethanol-run Toyota Innova car on Aug 29

Vehicle Emissions 

When blended with gasoline, ethanol offers emissions benefits that depend on vehicle type, engine calibration, and blend level.

Today's emissions standards require ethanol/gasoline-capable FFVs to meet the same emissions standards as conventional vehicles, regardless of the fuel used, as per the US Department of Energy.

Benefits

Ethanol is a renewable, domestically produced transportation fuel. As per reports, some benefits of FFV include cleaner emissions when running on high-ethanol fuel and decreased dependence on oil.

Also Read | Sugar industry body ISMA seeks 5% GST on flex fuel vehicles in line with EVs

Drawbacks

A FFV gets 25 percent poorer mileage than that of traditional gasoline. Another con is that ethanol is harsher than gasoline, and so it can dry out fuel lines, and other plastic parts of the vehicle if your vehicle is not designed explicitly for flex fuel.