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Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Increasing number of Americans are willing to drive farther, pay more for ethanol-free fuel

Ethanol’s rise over the past decade has given birth to an under-the-radar market: Americans who are willing to travel miles out of their way and pay significantly more per gallon for ethanol-free fuel.

Like locally sourced food or antibiotic-free chickens and eggs, so-called E0, or “pure gas,” has generated a cultlike following willing to pay a premium. More than 12,000 service stations across the U.S. and Canada now offer E0, according to pure-gas.org and other groups that track fuel trends.

While federal mandates make finding pure gas somewhat difficult — the vast majority of stations in the U.S. sell primarily E10, gasoline blended with about 10 percent ethanol — specialists say there is a dedicated market for the product. Some customers may hold fast to the notion that ethanol damages engines over time, or they may want to protest government policies that have forced increased amounts of ethanol into the gasoline supply.

Whatever the reason, the service station owners that sell pure gas, often at a per-gallon price 40 cents higher than E10, have found increasing demand.

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11 comments:

Anonymous said...

E0 or pure gas is the only type compatible with boat engines, lawn mowers, gas powered lawn tools, and airplanes.

Only a few places have it in the SBY area - you can't get it in DE...nobody around here has the good (higher octane) stuff - gotta go to Easton if you want 93...

I'll be sooo glad when the gas instead of food craze is over - it's really NOT helping the environment - just like the TSA - fake security!

Steve said...

Alcohol and gasoline don't want to mix, and as they sit dormant in the large tank at your gas station, separate without agitation, and the alcohol collects condensation from the return air as the fuel level goes down, so on any given day you could be getting trash or getting treasure. I've experienced a coughing, sputtering engine a block away from the fuel station several times, telling me I'm going to get crappy mileage for the next 300 miles.

It's garbage, and you get better mileage from pure gas, sometimes a penny a mile cheaper even when paying the premium price.

Anonymous said...

I make the trip from Laurel De to Salisbury when I need gas for my grass cutter , weed eater , generator or any of my older cars . I have 3 55 chevys and that's all I put in them . Car set all winter and start them in the spring with no gas issues. Little more in price is well worth the trip.

Anonymous said...

Alway buy fuel at newest stations and ones that are always busy like Wawa. Fuel doesn't sit long and the tanks don't leak.

Anonymous said...

Ethanol NOT good for your car...

Anonymous said...

it was a bad idea created by politicians.

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile I wish they'd bring an quality (70+%) E85 pump to Salisbury. E85 is huge with the performance car community. A simple flex fuel sensor and a tune and many performance oriented cars can pick up 25-35rwhp.

Anonymous said...

Ok so I see the average price of gas is $2.41/gallon and ethenol free (E0) is $3.21/gallon. I think most pumps have E10 (90% gas/10% ethenol).
Here's what's crazy. $2.89 worth of E0 is the same amount of gas that is in $2.41 worth of E10. The only difference is the price and the 1/10 a gallon of Ethenol you would get with the gallon of E10. So that would tell me that someone is paying me $4.00/gallon of Ethenol I put in my car.

Anonymous said...

10:04

A simple flex fuel sensor?


Respectfully, you don't have a clue what you're talking about.

Anonymous said...

Ethanol free is sold at the new Royal Farm store in Berlin across from the high school, premium fuel only also at Croppers just down the road!

Anonymous said...

Fuel injected, 4 cycle engines handle E10 just fine. I have driven vehicles 300K miles without any fuel related problems. No need to shop ethanol free fuel for your modern day car. Now its a totally different story when it comes to two cycle carbureted engines. They are not designed to handle E10, and E10 ruins those engines and their carburaters. Gas for two cycle engines can be used with a reduction of major problems as long as the gas is heavily treated with a fuel stabilizer product such as StaBil. Any E10 that is stored for any period of time over a couple of months, should be treated with fuel stabilizer. You can use that gas up to a year later without problems.