When you think of flexing green muscle , the Incredible Hulk might first come to mind . Butflex - fuelengines are another powerful fleeceable machine and , unlike the Hulk , they survive alfresco of comic Word and movies .
Flex enginesare receive unbending - fuel vehicles ( FFVs ) , which are sold and operated in countries around the world . In inadequate , aflexible - fuel vehicleis one that can run on fuels other than true gas , such as grain alcohol or nearly any ratio of fermentation alcohol and accelerator pedal coalesce in the same armoured combat vehicle .
Consumers have had the option to buy FFVs in the United States since 1995 . But Brazil is actually the world ’s biggest flexible - fuel vehicle market . More than 90 pct of vehicle sold today in that commonwealth have flex engines [ rootage : Sugarcane.org ] .
In the United States , the flex fuel that ’s collect the most headlines is E85 . Depending on seasonal adjustments , E85 is a blend of up to 85 percentage grain alcohol , with the difference consisting of gasolene . As of this writing , close to 2,300 United States fuel Stations of the Cross extend E85 .
You ca n’t pump E85 into a standard petrol fomite ’s tank without nasty side effects , such as chug , crude functioning and possible engine terms . Instead , you need an FFV design specifically to mold with the chemical substance corrosiveness and high-pitched octane of fermentation alcohol .
Oddly , many consumer own FFVs and they do n’t even get it on it . For example , there are just about 120,000 FFVs in the State Department of Nebraska and closely 60 percent of the owners are unaware that they have a flex engine under the hood [ reference : Nebraska Corn Board ] . The most obvious clue ? If your gondola was manufacture after 2008 and it has a yellow petrol tank car cap , it ’s an FFV . Your possessor ’s manual will also shed light on you as to your motor eccentric .
Even people who do n’t acknowledge much about FFVs understand that vegetable oil intake is a hot topic . That ’s where FFVs frequently enter the conversation . Because we can bring about ethanol from renewable germ , such as Indian corn and sugar cane , FFVs are often described as more eco - friendly than straight gasoline vehicles .
The supposed environmental friendliness of FFVs , however , is a point of hot controversy between various sect in manufacturing , government and science ( more on that later ) .
On the next page , you ’ll read about how flex engines are different from their gasoline counterparts . You ’ll see that these two combustible locomotive cousin-german are more alike than you might think .
Fine-tuning a Flex Engine
Flex engine are n’t wildly dissimilar from gasolene engines , nor are they space - old age technology . The Ford Model T car , for instance , was a flex engine that burned either gasoline orethanol .
FFVs do n’t cost more to build , and they are n’t more expensive in condition of sticker price , either . If you really want to , you could even buy a transition kit that lets you wrick your petrol motor into one that will happily drinkE85 .
From a chemical substance perspective , ethanol is dissimilar from gasoline in two major ways . It ’s more caustic and conductive . It also incinerate hotter , so it has a gamey octane military rank . A flex engine must be built to handle those technical challenges .
For fledgeling , your railcar has to know what sort of fuel you ’re pump . An onboard computer analyzes fuel composition to optimise engine ignition , adhere to emission standards and regulate burning . No matter how much the fermentation alcohol - to - gas ratio fluctuates , your flex - fuel car can adjust on the fly .
In flexible - fuel vehicle , the fuel tank car and in - tank components are build to resist ethyl alcohol ’s corrosiveness . Similarly , the fuel lines , gaskets , SEAL and rubber fuel hoses all must be corrosion - insubordinate , too , as must the fuel injectors .
The same goes for internalenginecomponents . Valve bum , Walter Piston rings , valves and other parts are all made from material that wo n’t well corrode . These parts are also build to belittle the possibility that wrong will result due to ethanol ’s leaning to bankrupt down and pick away engine lubricants .
Conductivity is another concern . All electrical parts of the fuel system , including wiring , must be insulated against ethanol ’s higher conductivity . In addition , the fuel filler parts have anti - spark feature that reduce the chance of stray light or electrostatic electrical energy make a grave flare pass - up .
Electrical worries apart , ethanol has a downhearted energy compactness than gasoline , so the engine need more fuel to attain high performance . Thus , fuel injectors are create to achieve mellow fuel flow charge per unit –otherwise , your engine would see a drastic reduction in overall tycoon .
In terms of engine expression , those are the most notable distinction in FFV motor . On the next page , you ’ll record more about flex locomotive engine performance and whether take a crap the shift is logical for you .
Flexing Lobbying Muscle
For multiple reasons , the eco - friendliness of FFVs is questionable . monetary value deliverance are dubious , too . And as it turns out , it ’s not necessarily consumer demand or sustainability concerns that are driving the proliferation ofFFVs .
Let ’s start with the fundamental principle . There ’s no modification in vehicle performance when you expend ethanol . You wo n’t notice a divergence in acceleration or horsepower .
The key differences are energy density and CO2 ( carbon dioxide ) emission . Lower energy density just signify that there ’s less energy in a gal of ethanol than there is in steady gasoline , so you have to burn more to go the same distance that you would with gas .
This , in bout , think of you have to burn up more fuel to get moving , and your vehicle actually free more CO2 than it does with gaseous state . However , because that CO2 was derive from a plant source instead of oil , you ’re ( in possibility ) simply releasing it back into the atmosphere , where it would have gone anyway as the industrial plant naturally decayed . Still , the eco - friendliness of FFVs is , at best , unclear .
Fuel efficiency is another thing altogether . As with all things refer to gasoline mileage , there ’s a portion of variability here , but milage per armored combat vehicle drops between 15 percent and 30 per centum when you interchange to ethyl alcohol . And because grain alcohol fuels are more often than not about the same price as gas , you might actually expend significantly more money – perhaps hundreds of one dollar bill per yr – to get around on just ethanol .
think these facts , you may question why anyone would build or buy FFVs . In the United States , federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy ( CAFÉ ) standards dictate that machine makers must proffer vehicles with a minimal gas fuel consumption rate of 27.5 mpg ( 22.2 for light truck ) ; otherwise , they face stiff mulct .
There ’s a loophole , though : If those company build vehicles that burn ethyl alcohol , they wo n’t be fine nearly as much . essentially , it ’s a administration strategy to encourage the use of more ethanol , which efficaciously subsidise American crop husbandman and could potentially reduce American dependency on foreign oil .
As for the flex engine themselves , well , they ’re a ripe engineering science that requires zero skills or version on the part of consumer . All you need to do is find one of M of gas Stations of the Cross that offer E85 fuel , and your flex engine will take you as far as you desire to go – just not quite as far as it would if you filled up with petrol .
FFVs and E85 are bring forth more and more common , so the pros and cons of the ethanol business model are being played out in the actual world for everyone to witness . Corn growers lie with FFVs because they make greater demand ( and higher prices ) for their intersection . And some environmental lobbyist see E85 as a step Harlan F. Stone to cleaner - bite fuel sources . But whether ethanol can make a serious , recollective - terminus dent in our dependance on foreign oil remains to be seen .
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