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East of Broken Bow | We used to have an old Dodge Durango that was flex fuel. The previous owner had kept the build sheet in the glovebox, and ordered it with the flex fuel option. If I remember right, it was under $300 at the time. Even if prices have doubled since then, that would come out to a $600 option.
Now, doing some math, lets assume the pessimists are right and you lose 20% MPG when using e-85 (we never saw over 15% with our Durango, but I'm going with the more pessimistic number for my example.
So, our Durango on a good day would make about 20 MPG on mostly open roads with regular. 20% MPG loss would be 16 MPG. (although it usually got just under 18, but sticking with the 20% loss for this comparison)
That would be 50 gallons of no-lead to drive 1000 miles, or 62.5 gallons of e-85
50 X $3.65 (our current e-10 price) is a cost of $182.5
62.5 X $1.20 (current e-85 price near me) is a cost of is $78.10, a savings of over $100.
So, if you save $100 every 1000 miles, you would have a $1000 e-85 kit paid for in about 10K miles, or if you were my wife, in about 6 months, at current prices, using the more pessimistic numbers.
Go with only 15% loss like we've personally seen, and drop the price of e-85 to $1, and you get under $60 to drive 1000 miles, and it would seem e-85 should be a no-brainer.
Change the numbers to a smaller car that gets 40 MPG, and you are at $30 per 1000 miles, or .3 cents per mile, and you are in the EV territory in cost per mile.
Personally, I wish an auto maker would make a flex fuel plug in hybrid. Plug it in overnight to be able to drive say 30-50 miles by battery, then as the batteries run down an engine starts and runs a generator to keep the batteries up. For the type of driving we do, that would probably be the lowest cost per mile vehicle we could own.
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More E85 pricing
