Almost every station I go to has ethanol (up to 10%) added to gas. For a long time I had the option in my area to buy non ethanol gas but now it’s harder to find.
If a gallon of ethanol gets less mileage per volume than gasoline, then how is it better for the environment if I have to fill that much sooner on gas because the ethanol component lowers my tank range?
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Normally I’m quite cynical, so I agree with the political motivation and also believe the environmental benefit had been extremely overstated.
However, what’s actually the main reason is that ethenol is a good octane booster. We have used a few octane boosters in the past. We add lead before in gasoline, and it turns out to be terrible lol. Then something called MTBE is used but it contaminates underground water when gasoline spill happens, so we end up with ethenol, something not really toxic when mixed with water, cheap to make, looked “green” on paper and most importantly, buys votes.
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