GM to make more cars that run mostly on ethanol
Date: 04-Mar-04
Country: USA
Author: Randy Fabi
Gary Herwick, GM's director of alternative fuels, said there were about 3 million vehicles on U.S. roads that can use so-called E85 fuel, a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. About 1 million of those cars are GM models.
"We think real opportunity lies with E85," Herwick told Reuters on the sidelines of a national conference of U.S. corn and soybean farmers. "It gets us a lot closer to the benefits of increased use of ethanol."
Herwick said GM's 2005 Chevrolet Avalanche, Suburban and GMC Yukon XL, Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full size pickups have the capability to use E85.
He said GM would boost its production of cars and trucks able to run on E85, but did not elaborate.
"These vehicles are just an example of an entire range of technologies we have developed to eventually remove the automobile from the environmental debate," said Elizabeth Lowery, GM's vice president for environment and energy.
Ethanol use is embraced in the Midwest as a way to bolster U.S. fuel independence and boost farmers' incomes. The government estimates about 1 billion bushels of corn, or nearly 10 percent of the U.S. crop, is used for ethanol.
"We definitely see customer interest in E85 as a fuel and in our flexible fuel vehicles as well," Herwick said. Demand was centered mainly in Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin and other farm states.
Demand for E85 has increased to about 10 million gallons annually, up from 1 million five years ago.
Because of federal subsidies, ethanol can be purchased in some areas for 15 to 25 cents a gallon less than unleaded gasoline, Herwick said.
"There are some state incentives in various states, but the primary incentive is the ethanol excise tax credit," he said.
A highway bill that Congress is currently working on would extend the excise tax break for ethanol through 2010.
A separate, slimmed down $14 billion energy bill stalled in the Senate mandates the use of 5 billion gallons (19 million liters) of ethanol and other renewable fuels by 2012, double the current rate.