Blends of gasoline with 10% ethanol, which is known as E10, account for more than 95% of the fuel used in gasoline-powered vehicles in the US, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) highlighted on Wednesday.

The total volume of ethanol consumed has been increasing since 2010, although at a slowing pace. Fuel consumers, meanwhile, have reduced their use of ethanol-free gasoline, or E0.

Now that almost all US gasoline sales are E10, adopting fuel blends containing more ethanol, such as E15 and E85, is the only way to boost ethanol use, said EIA. These fuels, however, cannot be used by all vehicles.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has allowed the use of E15 in 2001 and newer cars. E85, which contains between 51% and 83% ethanol, can only be used in flex fuel-vehicles. According to recent EIA estimates, there is a significant number of that kind of vehicles, representing about 7%, or 16.3 million, of the current US fleet of light-duty vehicles.

Sales of E15 and E85 still remain very low, which is attributed to a range of economic, environmental and distribution system challenges.

 

Source: http://renewables.seenews.com/news/e10-accounts-for-almost-all-us-gasoline-sales-eia-523755

Image source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Petroleum Supply Monthly (http://www.eia.gov)