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Ethanol group unveils vehicle that beats plug-in electrics

The American Coalition for Ethanol is unveiling an ethanol-powered vehicle with a lower lifecycle greenhouse gas footprint than plug-in electrics.

ACE senior vice president Ron Lamberty says with the push to net-zero in the next 10 to 30 years, it’s important to look at opportunities beyond electric that might already exist.

He tells Brownfield one of those is a flex-fuel engine coupled with a hybrid engine. “By properly accounting for what efficiencies have been gained in the production of ethanol, and using the lowest polluting fuel in a hybrid vehicle, we will show people that a hybrid flex-fuel engine can get to net-zero before any of the electric vehicles out there today.”

Lamberty has been driving a Hybrid Electric Flex Fuel Ford Fusion he has nicknamed “HEFF” that starts on electricity and is powered by a 2.0 liter, 4-cylinder engine capable of using up to E85 matched to an electric motor for a combined 188 horsepower.

He says eFlexFuel Technology installed a conversion kit and with that, the first hybrid-electric flex-fuel vehicle was on the road. “The guy who put it on, it took him probably 45-minutes and he said that was his first time he ever put one on, and they’re designed so that you or I or anyone that is a little bit handy and knows their way around a car a little bit can put them on themselves.”

Lamberty says the car operates exactly the same as it did before the kit was installed.  The technology also features a sensor that ensures fuel is being burned as economically as possible.