Ok Guys,

All the stuff above is true, but the simplest reason for the lower MPG is this

Gasoline:
1 Gal of Gasoline (mid grade) 125,000 Btu’s
Ethanol:
1 Gal of Ethanol 76,000 Btu’s

While the Poundage of the fuel will vary with temp and some minor specifics,
the differences are minor.

Btu's = useable power of heat energy converted into mechanical energy, it just simply takes more volume of E-85 to produce an equivalent amount of energy as straight gasoline

The biggest difference is the fact that it is renewable, and it burns much cleaner that gas, the engine stays cleaner longer requiring less overall maint.

It also adds to the cost of the engine design to allow for this flexibility, as in fuel pumps, fuel lines, injector components that are compatible with the richer alchohol content without breaking down.

Remember a while back when they were building cars with plastic fuel supply lines and the gas dehydrator for these had to be the "red" bottle (isopropanol) instead of the (yellow) bottle (methanol). It caused the plastic components to become brittle and break causing engine fires due to fuel spray.

Chrysler just didn't want to invest the money to make the 5.7 flexible.

I suppose at some time in the future this may be reversed in the aftermarket-----but its a ways off yet, and of course, by then, we may all be driving battery/burnable fuel trucks------the oil companies want their money, and we're gonna give it to'em.

 

Exactly, how much cleaner can it be if you have to burn almost twice as much to get the same results? It also uses up a valuable food sourse which makes everything cost more because there are many more things made from carn than you can imagine. Even baby diapers use corn in them.
Plus even if it is cheaper per gallon, using so much more to cover the same miles saves nothing.

 

I wouldn't mind using E-100, if they can figure out a way to make it with E-100 instead of petroleum. The fact that they're using CORN of things is ridiculous. There are numerous European countries that have this for more ahead than we are right now.
Sugar beets, sugar cane, saw grass are all good sources for the alcohol and they have a much better input (production) to results (product) ratio.

Just think, a v-8 engine running on anhydrous alcohol, the whole engine runs much cooler, to the point they could probably make the block from plastic with steel liners and aluminum heads.

I suspect in the next 10 yrs, you won't see anymore dino based anything. mostly synthetic lubricants, and alternate energy sources

 

I remember reading somewhere that a tech shop built an engine entirely of plastic with the steel liners and aluminum heads... took only two guys to put it into the engine compartment... mostly because it was akward to move. The only reason I can't remember the schools name was because it was almost 10 years ago... go figure something that economical wouldn't be used in production almost a decade later.

 

E85 is a hoax. Less power=worse mileage. Who cares if the Hemi doesn't like it?

 

I would partially agree with that.

Worse mileage? Absolutely agreed. Ethanol's notably lower BTU than gasoline puts it at a disadvantage making power per gallon of fuel. You need to use more fuel by volume to create the same amount of heat energy.

Less power? Not really... Ethanol's oxygen content plus it's much higher octane rating (105+ vs. 87 for standard grade gasoline or 90/10 gasahol) allow it the capability to make more power than gasoline, even while allowing the engine to run cooler. BTU content of fuel does not necessarily dictate how much power it is capable of generating. Case in point: Nitromethane has less than a third of the BTU capability of gasoline (5,000 BTU/lb. for Nitro vs. 18000 BTU/lb. for gasoline), but has the capability to create FAR more horsepower in an internal combustion engine, as shown by the 8000+ horsepower 500 cubic inch engines in Top Fuel class dragsters and funny cars.

A Hoax? Not at all. The current problem in the market is pricing, as we're all to aware of at the pump. I'll completely agree that it's currently not cost effective to run E85 in place of gasoline. However, once the price of Ethanol drops (and it will in the coming months/years due to more efficient production techniques and more broad availability), it will be much more attractive alternative, and in time, well worth it to run E85 instead of gasoline.

 

The dealer pulls off stickers explaining exactly how poor the E85 is in comparison to regular gas. It is a government mandaded(spelling) sticker that Chrysler puts on all flex fuel vehicles.