National FFV Awareness Project

Finding A Very Special Community of Like Minded People

Do You Have a FFV?

Answers to questions you may have. (Click here for a PDF version of this page)

Who?

The National FFV Awareness project is an education and outreach program of the Clean Fuels Foundation’s Ethanol Across America education campaign (www.ethanolacrossamerica.net) and FlexFuel Vehicle Club of
America (www.flexfuelvehicleclub.org) – designed to work in cooperation with federal/state/local governments and industry leaders interested in increasing the production of clean, renewable, domestically produced alternative fuels.

Why are FlexFuel Vehicles (FFVs), Ethanol, E85, and renewable fuels so important?

The production and use of renewable fuels like ethanol have had the support of the last five U.S. presidents and current Administration, plus 12 congressional delegations. There is consensus among our leaders and total bipartisan support because we need to actively pursue our national economic, environmental, and energy security goals (Ethanol Fact Book (1.7 Mb PDF). A national Renewable Fuel Standard was first created on August 8, 2005 when the Energy Policy Act of 2005 was signed into law http://www.epa.gov/OMS/renewablefuels/. Since then, the national Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) was enhanced and expanded when the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 was signed. This law makes the government responsible for revising and implementing regulations to ensure that gasoline sold in the United States contains a minimum volume of renewable fuel – not just ethanol. There are several requirements that require the government to continuously monitor the impact of the RFS on the economy and the consumer. The Renewable Fuel Standard program will increase the volume of renewable fuel required to be blended into gasoline from 9 billion gallons in 2008 to 36 billion gallons by 2022. The new RFS program regulations are being developed in collaboration with refiners, renewable fuel producers, and many other stakeholders. Similar to laws requiring rear view mirrors, seat belts, and air bags, the RFS law is intended to protect drivers from the economic, environmental, and energy/natioanl secuirity consequences and complications from our nation being addicted to oil – and specifically from sources of oil from unstable regions of the world. Nearly 90% of the world’s proven oil reserves are located in the Middle East. Learn more about the impact of oil on your life at http://www.flexiblefuelvehicleclub.org/whyyoudrive.asp

What is the National FFV Awareness Project?

Today, there are an estimated eight million FFVs registered in the United States. This project is designed to locate, educate, and motivate those eight million owners of FFVs to use higher blends of ethanol, like E85. Then encourage other drivers to consider choosing an FFV the next time they purchase a car. Why? To help the country hurdle the E10 blending wall (see "What is the Challenge" below), and enjoy the economic, environmental, and energy/national security benefits of increased domestic fuel production. The National FFV Awareness project has nothing to do with promoting new policy – it focuses on existing law (e.g., the national renewable fuel standard, or RFS) and consumer/driver education. The campaign message is safe and common ground for the majority of consumers, government and industry leaders -- validate and evangelize the proven fundamental principle that using higher blend levels of ethanol in FFVs will stimulate the economy, improve the environment, enhance energy security, and directly empower the consumer with choice in a free market. Choice will allow consumers to exert control over their energy destiny and directly impact their personal health, wealth, and environmental well being. This is a win-win-win for consumers. The National FFV awareness project will allow us to work with government and industry stakeholders to decal all brands of FFVs and related points of purchase, and to identify other ways to implement driver education and other FFV owner awareness efforts.

What is the challenge?

U.S. consumers use about 140 billion gallons of gasolien each year. Ethanol is currenlty blended at 10% in about 80% of the nation’s gasoline. Therefore there is only room for about 14 billion gallons of ethanol, and that limits the amount of gasoline ethanol can replace. This market ceiling is refered to by government and industries interested in delevooping altenraitva fuels as the E10 blend wall. Therefore, the market/consumer needs to accept more that 14 billion gallons of ethanol to to reach the economic, environmental and energy security goals established with the national renwable fuel standard (RFS). Therefore, consumers will have a choice, for the first time in 100 years, to use gasoline that contains more than 10% ethanol. Currently, Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) can use up to 85% ethanol, or E85, -- or choose to use lower blends such as E20, E30 or 40% depending on their individual preferences.

What’s the hurry?

The demand for oil is expected to double during the next 20 years. Consumers need to do something now to replace gasoline demand. There are 230 million cars on the road and it takes about 17 years to replace the existing fleet with new, more efficient, and/or alternative fueled vehicles. While there has been great success with hybrids entering the market, there have only been about 1 million sold since 1991 and they have no impact on reducing the gasoline demand from the other 229 million vehicles. There are about 10,000 electric cars and 50,000 natural gas cars on the road. The 8 million FFVs on the road today could use almost half of the ethanol produced in the United States. Is that significant? It is equal to the amount of crude oil we import from Iraq and Venezuela – that is significant and great progress in comparison to other alternatives!

What are your other choices?

Wait and hope?

Current Options For You to Replace or Reduce Gasoline/Crude Oil Consumption (Green is Easiest/Fastest/Cheapest, Yellow is harder, and Red is the Hardest/Cost Prohibitive)

What is the cost comparison?

Assume the average vehicle life/ownership is 120,000 miles, the vehicle gets 20 mpg, and therefore uses about 6,000 gallons of gasoline, or 5,100 gallons of ethanol (when using E85). The federal ethanol tax incentive to make ethanol competitive with gasoline costs you (the taxpayer/federal government) about 50 cents per gallon, or $2,550 per FFV running exclusively on E85. In addition, there are several other returns on your investment such as: adding ethanol to gasoline supply lowered the price of gasoline/crude oil by 15% last year, the economic stimulation from renewable feedstock production, building ethanol plants, job creation, reduction in federal outlays to support agriculture and unemployment, and reduced health care costs – to name a few. You will also experience a slight mileage loss when using higher blends of ethanol (more than 30%), but there must be some value to you and our country achieving many of the goals stated above.

If the goal is to reduce gasoline, what can you do today?

Assume the average FFV fuel tank holds 20 gallons and gets 20 miles to the gallon. That means an FFV will fill up with 17 gallons of ethanol and 3 gallons of gasoline, and go about 400 miles. That means an FFV will get over 100 miles per gallon of gasoline – today! That technology is here today, and you may be one E85 fill up away.

What are you counting on to help you achieve economic, environmental, and energy/national security?

Send us an email, we want your opinion.

What will be the result?

Using higher blends of ethanol will bring more fuel supplies and competition to the retail gasoline market. Selling more alternative fuels like E85 will pave the way for the development of new advanced biofuels like cellulosic ethanol, and buy time for new vehicle technologies to emerge like plug-ins, hybrids, electric cars, hydrogen, and natural gas vehicles. We will need them all. This project will serve as an example of how state/local governments and like minded organizations can establish a sustainable driver education campaign that will increase alternative fuel and vehicle demand. Demand will develop a stronger alternative fuels market needed to attract and sustain new cellulosic-ethanol and advanced biofuel projects and protect the national RFS.

How can you help?

Learn more, do something and stand by your plan – a national renewable fuel standard. There is enough validated third party research by government, academia, and industry to be confident that using ethanol as the foundation to accelerate a larger and more technologically advanced alternative fuels industry is the next right thing to do. Research for yourself at www.ethanolacrossamerica.net National surveys say consumers want to do something. Here is your something. Please help us identify and contact other non-profit groups with similar missions, automobile dealerships, gasoline retailers, and like minded civic and faith organizations that want to help present the value proposition of what using higher blends of ethanol brings to the consumer and the country.