The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is taking a different tactic to increasing ethanol blends available at fueling stations.
A new EPA proposal would reclassify ethanol blends above E15 as “ethanol flex fuels,” potentially opening the door to wider use of these blends, according to Hemmings Motor News and reported by Green Car Reports. The proposal would place fuels with 16 to 50 percent ethanol in the same category as E85.
Reclassifying ethanol blends would make more biofuels available to owners of flex-fuel vehicles. The EPA thinks its proposal could encourage more interest in flex-fuel vehicles and the “blender pumps” needed at fueling stations to add greater amounts of ethanol to gasoline. Drivers would have the option of deciding how much ethanol would be blended into their gasoline during the fueling.
In 2012, the EPA declared E15 suitable for all cars built in 2001 or later, which prompted several gas stations to allow for the 15-percent ethanol and 85-percent gasoline blend in their pumps. Several automakers have disputed E15 being pumped into gas tanks as the source of erosion and other problems in a car’s fuel system and engines. Cars sold at dealerships are built to run on E10 blends and no higher, automotive engineers have said.
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