And The Real Flex Fuel Vehicles Are...

(I've digressed in recent posts but not completely, this post talks about one way to really save money which is of paramount importance when running a farm or homestead).

Very unfortunately, it's too easy to be fooled (I regrettably speak from experience).  A notion that many accept without question is that there are things that are good for society that need promotional help, as in help from the "gubmit" in the form of subsidies.  But, at the same time we're not stupid.  If something makes our lives better and really does make sense economically, people on their on volition will choose those things for themselves.  Well, at least some always will but others will need help to see thru the fog created by propaganda.  Now brace yourself for the next paragraph, it won't make sense.

Passed by a "flex fuel" vehicle while burning "veggie."

Flex fuel vehicles are great, you can burn gasoline or ethanol.  Ethanol is cheaper at the pump because it's subsidized with our money and provides 10 to 20% less fuel economy.  So essentially burning ethanol over gas does not save you any money and the costs required to force this option on us make it much less economical than gasoline but it's really good for society.

Obviously this doesn't make any sense, so how can it be an accepted notion that ethanol is good?  Thank propaganda, yes, the old friend of fascists and communists (I know, sounds hard to believe).  Something that is inefficient and misallocates resources is posited as something good because some people's pockets are being lined with dough, and lots of it.

The good news is that real flex fuel vehicles exist, they're actually older diesels.  These things run on many types of vegetable oil (corn, soy and others) peanut oil, hydraulic fluid, transmission fluid and clean motor oil.

There are two ways to feed these older "flex fuel" vehicles.  One is with a mixture of diesel and the alternative fuel and another is with a separate tank for the "flex fuel."

Take this 1997 Mercedes E300 "flex fuel."  With a tank already filled with 80% veggie and 20% diesel, if I also carry five 5 gallon totes of used frying oil (and a 2.5 gallon can of diesel) in the trunk, I can go 1170 miles and arrive at my destination with half a tank to spare (I stop at rest stops, pour in a tote and then chase it with a half gallon of diesel).  The 2.5 gallons of diesel cost me $6.50.  $6.50 to go 1170 miles!  Conventional "flex fuel" vehicles can't achieve anything close to this unless the entire trip was coasting down the side of a mountain.

This is the trunk of the 1985 300D Mercedes.  It has a separate tank so it can burn pure veggie.  The tank heats the veggie so that its viscosity drops and it has the consistency of diesel (without heat, blending diesel with veggie does the same thing, but you have to increase your ratio depending on the temperature: during winter I wouldn't go higher than 50% veggie and 50% diesel into your main tank, and during the peak of summer I've done as much as 80% veggie and 20% diesel.  Aug. '16 edit: I now run 50/50 in summer and decided not to blend in the winter but that may change, I'm experimenting with adding gasoline to veggie).  So why haven't you heard of these flex fuels before?

Because I don't control vast amounts of used veggie oil and I don't have the dough to line the pockets of politicians.  If I did, the politicians would then pass "laws" to transfer wealth from you to me and my friends who use veggie.  Other reasons are because the merits of using veggie speak for themselves, nor is the market for used veggie "regulated" so it operates freely.  People voluntarily cooperate depending on what is in their best interest.  Restaurants have to dispose of the waste oil and in exchange for solving their problem I can save money.  The pocket lining is always done for industries that are not cost effective or do not offer obvious benefits so their owners must create a market with the help of "gubmit."  They're called "political entrepreneurs" and shouldn't be confused with real entrepreneurs who develop products and services that become popular simply because they improve people's lives.

Ethanol may seem cheap, but that price reduction at the pump costs us billions see here (usnews.com article on the ethanol lobby "Good News For Corn, Bad News for You").  "Hmmm, so instead of paying $2.32 per gallon and getting 20 mpg, I can pay $1.99 and get 16 mpg thanks to subsidies" (aka a euphemism for gubmit coerced wealth transfer from you to crony capitalists).

I started burning "veggie" in the 1985 300D with a separate tank a year ago at 211,000.  So 26,000 miles later I've consumed 929 gallons (fuel economy has averaged 28 mpg).  In the cold months I had to switch to the diesel tank until the engine reached operating temperature so I figure I've actually burned 837 gallons of veggie.  With an average price of 2.50 per gallon for diesel, I've saved $2,092 in one year.  But, veggie is not for everyone, it must be filtered, you need a place to stage it and you have to make arrangements with restaurants for pick up.

And it can be messy.

But very satisfying.  This is a video of the 1997 E300 going from 0 to 60. Hard to believe it's a non turbo.  Not only can you save a significant amount of money, you don't have to sacrifice performance.