Do you own a flex fuel car? Are you interested in owning a flex fuel car? If you answered yes to either of these questions you’ll likely want to know the advantages and disadvantages of flex fuel cars. This post will be especially important for you if you are looking for a new car and trying to make a decision.
First off, let’s explain what a flex fuel car is. A flex fuel car is one that utilizes an internal combustion engine that can operate using any mixture of fuel. Their most common mixture of fuel is either methanol or ethanol mixed with gasoline. This makes a flex fuel vehicle much different from a bi-fuel vehicle, which utilizes separate tanks to store different types of gas.
Advantages of Flex Fuel Cars
We will take a look at the advantages of flex fuel cars first.
One of the biggest advantages of a flex fuel car is that it offers an alternative to oil. Since most of these cars use ethanol, they don’t need your typical oil. Ethanol is made from a combination of sugarcane and corn, making oil unnecessary in these cars.
The burning facility of a flex fuel car is another advantage. This type of vehicle has been specifically designed to burn the mixture in the vehicle’s combustion chamber. The blend in the chamber is monitored with electronic sensors and then microprocessors are used to adjust the timing and fuel injection.
Another big advantage of a flex fuel car is that it has a lesser impact on the environment than other cars because it uses ethanol, which burns cleaner than gasoline. Ethanol is not viewed as a significant contributor to greenhouse gasses.
Owners of flex fuel vehicles will receive a tax credit, which is an obvious advantage of this type of car. The tax credit might be so big that it eliminates the owner’s tax responsibility altogether.
Disadvantages of Flex Fuel Cars
A big disadvantage of flex fuel cars is that the engine can become damaged. This is caused by the ethanol, which can cause corrosion and other damage to the engine of the vehicle. The reason that ethanol causes damage is that it easily absorbs dirt.
Another disadvantage of flex fuel cars is the actual use of ethanol, which we mentioned earlier is made by combining sugarcane and corn. The crops produced for ethanol can only be used to make ethanol, which makes them single-use crops. This can lead to an increase in prices for products that use corn, such as animal feed. Corn is also prone to drought, which can cause issues with the production of ethanol.
Ethanol does not provide drivers with the same amount of fuel efficiency as gasoline because it is not as economical as gasoline. A big reason for this is that there are not nearly as many suppliers of ethanol as there are gasoline.
As you can see, flex fuel cars come with advantages and disadvantages, just like any other type of vehicle. You can now make an informed decision when purchasing your next car.