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Grasping Flex Fuel Vehicles

Many people categorize flex fuel vehicles as hybrid vehicles. This is actually a mistake. In this article, we take a closer look at what a flex fuel vehicle is and how it differs from a hybrid.

Flex fuel vehicles have been around for some time. You might be driving one and not even realize it. Regardless, many city, state and federal cars are flex fuel vehicles because they are required to be as a matter of law. It is rather odd that the government requires its agencies to do this, but not individual citizens. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact agencies don’t vote in elections, but people do!

A flex fuel vehicle is aptly named. It is a vehicle that can run on multiple fuels or a mix of two fuels. The first fuel is usually gasoline. The second fuel is where things get interesting. In most cases these days, the second fuel is ethanol. You may have heard Brazil has no fuel problems. This is because the vast majority of their cars run off of sugar can ethanol, and Brazil has massive sugar cane supplies.

Unlike Brazil, we do not have sugar cane fields. What we do have is corn and a strong corn political lobby! To the surprise of nobody, corn is used as the base ingredient in ethanol production in the United States. That is changing, however. Once the politics were concluded, it quickly became apparent that corn was not a good choice. First, it doesn’t convert well. Second, using it for fuel caused a shortage in food supplies! A transition to grass based ethanol is currently underway.

As mentioned, flex fuel vehicles can run on gasoline or a second fuel which is usually ethanol. Ethanol is rarely offered as a stand alone fire because it burns invisibly. Put in practical terms, your car could be on fire and you wouldn’t know it. A second problem is ethanol doesn’t fire well in the cold, which means starting the car on a cold winter morning can be a task and a half. To prevent these problems, most ethanol is sold as e85. This simply means it is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gas. Your flex fuel car can automatically adjust.

So, how is a flex fuel vehicle different than a hybrid? A hybrid runs partially off a gasoline power engine and partially off a battery charge. The flex fuel vehicle will switch between fuels, but never runs on just a battery. Both are more fuel efficient, but we are really talking about apples and oranges.

The auto industry is facing up to the fact that fuel cost is a big issue for consumers these days. Flex fuel vehicles are one solution to the problem.

About the Author

Dirk Gibson is with DCJAutoParts.com - where you can find aftermarket car parts and accessories for your flex fuel vehicle.

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