Turbos and Ethanol

[Dan P.]

Are turbos the way of the future of powering cars ???
What do you guys think about the use of ethanol in place of gas?

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/automotive/article/0,20967,1069364,00.html

 

[freakintiger]

Perhaps for the near future, until we all get our drive by wire hydrogen powered weenie cars...don't you people get it? Thats why on all these shows that "pimp" someones ride they never go under the hood, so everyone will be content with a lot of "bling, bling" and a real loud stereo on a car that tops out at 60mph...
...remember when a loud exhaust was more important than a loud stereo? Anyone?

 

[MagnaflowGT]

yep thats why I still got my good ol' V8

 

[bhuff30]

I wish there were more E85 stations around here. There are only 2 stations within 35 miles of me, and both are about 35 miles away.
If there were more stations around, I would set up my megasquirt to run on E85. With 100+ octane, I could crank the boost until my T3 runs out of breath, then get a Hy35 for some CRAZY pressure ratios.
Energy sources are once of those things were there is NO FREE LUNCH. It takes energy to get energy and there are always losses everywhere it seems.
I don't forsee ethanol being used that much for energy in the future. It actaully takes more energy to grow the corn and distill it than the ethanol actaully contains.
As for hydrogen, I don't see that becoming a common energy source either. Sure, it burns clean, but where do you get hydrogen from. There are 2 major ways to get hydrogen now.
1. You can extract it from oil. The byproducts are nasty and we would still be eating our dwindling oil supply.
2. You can also get hydrogen by sending a high current through water. This of course requires a LOT of electricity which must come from somewhere. Right now, it comes from coal power plants... there is plenty of coal to use, but isn't even as clean as the gasoline we are currently using. Coal still emitts tons of green house gasses just like gasoline. In order for hydrogen to become practial, we must figure out how to store it (takes HUGE tanks right now) and how to make it.
I beleive that the next 20-30 years of automotive transportation will still rely heavily on gasoline, but using hybrid technolody and other efficincy savers, we will be able to go much much furthur on a gallon of gas.

 

[joebford]

...remember when a loud exhaust was more important than a loud stereo? Anyone?

joe

 

[93GTosu]

i have to reply on the comment about ethanol...

all this summer i've been working for an ethanol producing/recycling plant. here's what they did...Pepsi, Coke, Budweiser , etc. all ship this plant expired, defective, mislabeled pop and alcohols that they could not sell. Most of the stuff had expired or been mislabeled. The company i worked for would take the sugar out of the pop, the alcohol out of the beer/wine/etc. and produce ethanol. This is one of only two or three ethanol plants like this in the U.S. and lemme tell you they have big plans to expand VERY fast in the next 5 or so years. Now im not saying that ethanol is going to replace gas, but its definitly on its way up more than most people might think...

 

[realtripp]

First of all, know I have not been here in a while, if anyone remembers me

Second, I am glad this thread caught my eye, as burning ethanol or E85 is something I have been interested in doing for a while now. I have 2 E85 filling stations within 40 miles of my house, one is by my school which I have to drive within a mile of everday.

Here are my thoughts, Gasoline burns best at a 1:12.5 ratio, ethanol at 1:6, and E85 at around 1:8.

E85 is advertised at around a minimum of 100 octane.

I figure an E85 turboford conversion could be done with raising fuel pressure or adjusting the VAM to make it burn more rich, and advancing the timing. I think with the MUCH higher octane rating I will probably need to open the spark plugs a bit as well.

The only forseeable problems are the regular steel fuel lines and tank rusting frequently.

I have the 35# fuel injectors and a Walbro 255lph fuel pump, I am somewhat worried about those rusting as well because I do not know if they are stainless/corrosion resistant materials.

 

[Touring23]

As I noted in this thread,

Hhhhmmmm, this is interesting:
1 U.S. Gallon of gasoline contains 114,132 btu
E85 = 83,263 btu/gal
In an arithmetic sense, 1 volumetric gallon of E85 represents 73% of the btu value of gasoline.
Taken from the link provided above:
http://www.e85fuel.com/forsuppliers/docs/e85_and_energy_content.doc

Soooo......we'll use a turbo to make up for the lower energy content of the fuel?

Heavy sigh.

I have a different idea. Legislate a mandatory weight limit on all passenger vehicles. You want an Escalade or other 2-ton behemoth? Fine, prove you have a family of four, and oh, BTW, it comes with a federally mandated 2 gallon fuel tank, a 2.0L FWD powertrain, and a 100% non-deductable smog tax.
Pfft. Ethanol. The supply isn't the problem. The problem is the demand. Geez this is getting me depressed.


*edit* Here's proof the nation needs to get a grip on vehicle weights:
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/cert/mpg/fetrends/420s05001.htm#highlight3
Ethanol...pfft.

*Post Edit*
WTH does a Hybrid Civic need to weigh 2700 pounds? Answer: To have enough armor plating to survive an impact with a typical SUV.
Ethanol...pfft.