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CA Gas Prices!!! Ouch

BrettT

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Well new record set in Metro Vancouver today. $1.70 litre for 87, and $1.90 litre for 91. So that works out to $5.41 USD/GAl!!!
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Kong76

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Just a few points (speaking as an ex-oil petrochem guy)...
Ethanol is far from a waste of an additive. It's an oxygenate, and a great source of octane. It's safer and cheaper than any other alternative. "Worse for the ozone" isn't such a big issue, as gasoline combustion emissions had minimal contributions to the old ozone issue. The key now is reducing carbon emissions and reducing the need for fossil fuels. EtOH is pretty good for those issues. The biggest negatives are some increased ground level emissions (harmful to lungs), reduction of lubricity (harmful to fuel pumps), and increase in solvency (harmful to older hoses and seals). Those of us running E85 know what an amazing fuel it is for the performance enthusiast. I wish more stations sold it, as it is cheap and high octane. If I were in Cali, I would be looking for E85 stations and take the plunge.

As for gasoline prices, people love to whine about taxes. But taxes aren't the core of the issue in Cali. While your taxes are high, less than $0.50 per gallon goes to taxes. There are many other reasons that explain your high prices. Two standouts I see are lack of pipelines and strict regulations for fuel refining/blending. https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gasoline-manipulation-infobox-20150706-story.html
That first negative for EtOH you listed is a big one especially here in the valley. So ethanol does not cause any problems on today's cars? It takes 7110 lbs of corn ( 1 acre ) to produce 328 gallons of ethanol. Concerns me so much valuable farmland is being used to feed our tanks instead of our mouths. Believe it or not E85 is not so readily available here in Ca. A tleast in my area. Closest station is 30 min away.
 

Hack

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That first negative for EtOH you listed is a big one especially here in the valley. So ethanol does not cause any problems on today's cars? It takes 7110 lbs of corn ( 1 acre ) to produce 328 gallons of ethanol. Concerns me so much valuable farmland is being used to feed our tanks instead of our mouths. Believe it or not E85 is not so readily available here in Ca. A tleast in my area. Closest station is 30 min away.
If you make ethanol from corn you need an additional source of energy as well. The corn doesn't produce enough energy to make ethanol without burning oil/coal or some other source of power. From an economic standpoint ethanol is terrible. Too expensive and resource intensive.
 

Nomadic

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I get living there for the weather and I suppose the job market. I could never. I like guns freedom of speech and regular not lefty crazy people too much lol. And the living cost in Ohio isn’t bad.
It's a big state. I say whatever the hell I want. I don't run into crazy people here. The weather is insanely awesome and totally worth it if you like the outdoors all year long, which I do. Glad you like guns. They do a lot of good in a civilized society; like keeping the USA as the 1st world country leader for gun homicides per capita by exponential margins.
 
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Kong76

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Just did a cost comparison yesterday. E85 is going for $3.29 a gallon and if you divide that by .70 for the 30% loss of mpgs/energy provided it works out to $4.70 a gallon. 91 is at $4.29 so it doesn't make since right now to switch minus the octane boost. My car is running like shit anyways so doubt I would see any benefit.
 

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California gas tax broken down.
 

Freedom

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Just did a cost comparison yesterday. E85 is going for $3.29 a gallon and if you divide that by .70 for the 30% loss of mpgs/energy provided it works out to $4.70 a gallon. 91 is at $4.29 so it doesn't make since right now to switch minus the octane boost. My car is running like shit anyways so doubt I would see any benefit.
A bit old but I think the math is * 1.30 and not divide by .7. So $4.27. Could be wrong though.
 

bluebeastsrt

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Move out of that god forsake state!
 

bootlegger

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Just did a cost comparison yesterday. E85 is going for $3.29 a gallon and if you divide that by .70 for the 30% loss of mpgs/energy provided it works out to $4.70 a gallon. 91 is at $4.29 so it doesn't make since right now to switch minus the octane boost. My car is running like shit anyways so doubt I would see any benefit.
The comparison test done by Edmunds shows that they spent around 26% more with E85 vs E10. That puts you at around $4.15 per gallon for the same fuel economy. Still cheaper than E10 91oct, and a massive increase in performance. For cars like the Mustang, E85 does make some financial sense. That is, unless your E85 is excessively expensive, or you are used to only using 87 octane.
 

tom_sprecher

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Just bought 93 at Sam's for $2.69. It's even cheaper in SC where I travel a lot. Gotta love the South Land. :like:
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