Ethanol may be cheaper than gasoline, but there are drawbacks. Burning 1 gallon of ethanol fuel gives 34% less energy than burning the same amount of gasoline. Its energy content is about 70% of that of gasoline. Also, current version of the motor engines will need upgrades to make them work with ethanol fuel.
In my country, as fuel for the car is very widely used gas. It does not require engine modifications, and gas costs 2 times cheaper than gasoline. Bioethanol will not stand such competition and its production does not make sense.
Do you mean LPG? It's not as great as you're saying.
Firstly it does require engine modifications! You need an electronic valve system that feeds gas to the engine, because unlike gasoline it's pressurized and will look for the smallest opening to escape.
Next there's the cost of the tank that has to be fitted inside of your car's trunk. And lastly your car loses some of it's power. The engine will be a bit weaker on LPG and you will burn about 10% more LPG than gasoline on the same distance.
+10% gas easily overlap 50% savings on fuel cost. The loss of power I don't notice. Install the gas valve is not modification of the engine and installation of additional equipment. Cars can drive on both petrol and gas. The gas tank in the trunk is certainly a problem, but when you drive around town you rarely use the trunk so it was no problem.
Ok I agree with you, but if I were to give some more cons it would be:
-Rising prices of LPG (it used to be much cheaper 10 years ago than it is now)
-Higher risk of explosion after a crash. Gasoline rarely causes the car to explode it usually just burns, unlike in the movies.
-LPG equipment require checkups and maintenance that you will have to pay for
-The loss of power is significant, that's why you rarely see sports cars running on LPG
Traditionally all prices rise, this is nothing LPG specific. Currently in Australia, our LPG prices are roughly half the cost of petrol which makes LPG a cheaper alternative. I've converted my last three cars to run on LPG, the last one being a 1997 Subaru Impreza WRX.
There can be power losses when converted depending on the LPG system used. Typical mixer systems show the greatest power loss, with vapour injection losing less and liquid injection losing the least. Most quality vapour and liquid injections systems shown minimal loss at best over petrol and the vehicle can usually be re-tuned for LPG to run
better than petrol.
In Australia the only increased cost of LPG ownership post initial purchase is having your tank checked every ten years to ensure it is in good condition. Other than that it's standard maintenance for the vehicle ie. check filters etc.
Higher risk of explosion is a load of bunk. LPG tanks are designed to withstand higher puncture forces and are less likely to rupture in the event of an accident.
As for running ethanol, I personally think it's a great alternative fuel. I run a dedicated race car on 85% ethanol and it loves it. The obvious draw back, as others have mentioned, is the lower energy density of ethanol. Most modern engines don't have an issue with ethanol and you usually only need to check rubber components in the fuel system to make sure that they are ethanol compatible.
