Despite E85 push, Midwest is slow to embrace it

Des Moines Register

11:22 PM, Apr. 23, 2011 Written by PHILIP BRASHER

Washington, D.C. - Ethanol producers are lobbying Congress for incentives to get consumers to fill up on higher blends of the biofuel. But the relatively slow sales of E85 even in the Midwest show motorists whose vehicles can use ethanol often don't buy it, critics say.

E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, was seen as a promising way for the industry to boost its market share.

But the fuel is supposed to be burned only in cars or trucks especially equipped to run on ethanol, and most of those vehicles on average use just a few tankfuls a year in states such as Iowa and Minnesota where the fuel is the most available.

Read more