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MT-ND | You're missing the fact that it is priced no where near that outside of the corn belt. Gasoline, mandated e10, was $3.70, and E85 was behind it at $3.60. E20-30 was priced in between and 91 no ethanol was $3.90. My vehicles will pencil out 91 better than any of the others at those prices, so I run that.(prices are from last time we filled the bulk tanks, but I know ethanol basically follows gas here)
You're also missing that for the last 20 years ethanol has been advertised as "energy independence" in the middle of one of the largest oil and technology booms to hit the US, to the point of where we actually exported more than we imported for the first time in basically forever.
You're missing the fact that the other way ethanol has been advertised, "clean air for Iowa" or whatever, has no market anymore, that market has moved on to electric. Granted electric is questionable for most, but most who drive a reasonable amount don't care about clean air, see emissions deletes.
You're missing the fact that whoever advertises for ethanol is apparently blind and deaf as the only rebuttals I've heard for any of ethanol's issues has been here, from the corn belt farmers. Even then it's just "pass the buck". "Its the oil companies putting cheap gas in that causes all the problems" well duh, that's the point of ethanol, cheap gas and ethanol makes up for what the cheap gas lacks. Meanwhile the petroleum industry at least acknowledges that their products have issues, you know, Power Service for Diesel gelling, Heet for water in gas issues, seafoam and a few thousand other additives for lubrication, cleaning, power, placebos, etc. Ethanol just blames oil and thay gets ethanol no where as what can the consumer do, right now, about what Cenex, Petro Serve, Tesoro, ConocoPhillips, are doing to solve or help ethanol's problems? Not much.
You're missing the 20+ years, more if you count the gasahol of pre2000, of unchallenged bad press for it. If people hear that so and so have issues with something, they probably become more cautious about trying something. They read many problems on line about it, they're probably very cautious about it, to the point of not wanting it at all. The "do not put gasahol in this engine" and the consumer googles gasahol, sees that it means alchohol gas, Google's ethanol, and ta da, they aren't buying ethanol gas for whatever it was now. The "virtual mandates" for the crowd against government control, you've killed any hope of selling there. Food and fuel, another argument that appears you will lose, again. With the dawn of YouTube and the internet, anyone can research issues on their own, they can see a popular YouTube channel, like Project Farm, do a comparison with ethanol/gasahol/blends against normal Gasoline and Diesel and see that "well the ethanol ones the gas evaporated more and is rusted more and it did something to the rubber fuel line he had soaking in them, plus it got less run time too". Then there is the mileage thing too, people buy a car that gets 30 mpg, they want 30 mpg. Most don't sit down and figure the cost out every time fuel changes, they just see how much and how often.
I mean I know agtalk is predominantly a corn belt forum, so this will just be ignored, but from a non corn belt perspective it looks like that scene from Naked Gun where the guy is standing there saying "nothing to see here, everything's under control..." etc, etc.
Edit: I also find funny how DDGs are pushed as a positive, yet where most plants are located are in areas where there is very little livestock. Here its cost prohibitive to haul from Richarton or Casselton, and even then our water quality prohibits use of it.
Edited by Kochia 5/21/2022 15:32
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Current economics of ethanol
