ETHANOL BUSINESS

Ethanol Stations Remain Few And Far Between

February 28th, 2008 | Author: Mr Ethanol

USA Today:
The ethanol industry has a problem, but you wouldn’t have known it Tuesday from the line of big, thirsty vehicles snaking down the street from a single service station.

Most states still have few places that sell the industry’s highly touted E85 fuel (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) even though there are an estimated 6.8 million cars and trucks on the road capable of burning the mixture.

Here in the motoring mecca of Los Angeles, there’s exactly one E85 station to serve consumers. It is one of just three open to the public in all of California.

Thanks to a promotion subsidized by General Motors (GM), drivers lined up their SUVs, pickups and minivans for a blessed two hours of E85 priced at 85.9 cents a gallon — a far cry from the $2.999 a gallon that Conserv Fuel in the tony Brentwood section of the city usually charges.

“I’ve been waiting to get a station out here,” said Keira Lowery, 28, of Los Angeles as she filled up her Dodge Caravan minivan. Some waited more than half an hour.

Promotions like this one have been staged around the country to raise awareness of E85, plugged as a home-grown, environmentally sound fuel. But even officials of GM, which makes the most flex-fuel vehicles that can burn E85, say they are frustrated by the slow rollout of pumps around the country.

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