Gas is at a national average of about $4.00 per gallon right now and as much as you hate your local gas station for changing the price daily, and what seems hourly sometimes, they don’t actually profit as much as you think they do. They are simply passing on the costs that they have to pay for fuel. The fuel suppliers still want big profit margins though, so many of them have started to cut the gasoline in their tanks, creating a mixture with ethanol. This has caused some bit of concern as Consumer Reports studies prove E85 delivers substantially worse gas mileage. While E85 is up to 85% ethanol and costs on average 15-20% less than low grade gasoline (for those cars that can run it), it is still not readily available across the country and according to Consumer Reports, can end up costing more per gallon than gasoline when you figure the mileage in.

Almost all cars can run a slight amount of ethanol mixed into their gas and the big gas companies started to slip in this corn-fuel without really telling anyone. On most pumps in my area small stickers have started to appear, some say Contains up to 5% Ethanol while others say Contains 10% Ethanol. The wording, at my best guess, is very deliberate. Those pumps that say up to could have only a trace amount of ethanol in them, and based purely on my own speculation, I think the oil companies get a kick-back for using ethanol because it does burn cleaner.

The gas station around the corner from my house has been the cheapest in the area for the last two years running, which is good for me I guess. As of writing today, they are 6 cents cheaper per gallon than the gas station that is a block from my work. While my Civic only fits about ten gallons of gas and I’m only saving sixty cents, those sixty cents adds up. I noticed about two months ago a sticker on the pumps that read Contains 10% Ethanol but didn’t think much of it. It was about that time that I started to notice better gas mileage in my car though, again, not really linking the two together.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve reset my trip odometer and then divided the miles driven by the gallons to refill to get my average miles per gallon. No specific reason, just curious. Currently, my Civic is in dire need of an alignment, pulling to the left fairly hard, is 2,500 miles past due for an oil change and I haven’t changed the air filter since I bought it more than four years ago. Basically, I’m doing nothing to increase the miles per gallon. Even so, I routinely get between 29-31 miles per gallon with my daily driving. Last few fill-ups, I’ve been averaging between 33-35 miles per gallon. My driving style hasn’t changed, I haven’t been doing more highway driving and the weather has been so hot that I’ve used the air conditioning. The only explanation for this nearly 10% gain in average miles per gallon that I can come up with is the 10% ethanol in the gas, as I’ve been filling up at the same gas station for the last several months.

Mixing ethanol may not give the same effect in all cars, in all driving conditions, but now out of nothing more than superstition I will continue to only fill up at the gas station around the corner from me and / or any that clearly say Contains 10% Ethanol.

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