E10 and E85 Fuels Make News

April 1st, 2014 by Fiedler Group

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is reporting the number of E85 retail fueling stations expanding.

Last year we wrote about pending legislation that would require major fuel distributors to install Ethanol pumps at gas stations.

Now, the EIA has announced that since 2007, the number of E85 stations has shown growth outside the states where the majority of E85 stations were initially located (Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin).

While Minnesota leads the nation with 336 E85 retail fueling locations, California, New York, Colorado, Georgia, and Texas have experienced recent growth.

Notably, California and New York have shown increases from fewer than 12 stations combined in 2007 to now more than 80 stations each.

Only New Hampshire and Alaska reported not having an E85 station.

And yet, despite this growth, a majority of the nation’s 156,000 retail fueling stations still do not offer E85, with New England being particularly slow to adopt this fuel.

In related ethanol news, the US EPA final rule for emission standards for cars and gasoline made E10 the new Federal emissions test fuel, replacing straight gasoline.

The new EPA rule also established final specifications for E85 test fuel for flex fuel vehicles.