Why no fuel-efficient FlexFuel cars?

[pow]

GM's E85 efforts are clearly being noticed, so much that even my biology teacher, who's this uber-liberal granola woman in her sixties, started talking about an Avalanche ad excitedly: "Wow, have you seen it?! I've always wanted a cute little truck; gosh, I'm going to buy one right away when we get an ethanol station. Are Chevy cars any good? They are? Good, as long as they're not Fords. I once nearly burned in a Ford...." and so on.

I refrained from breaking the news to her, that the Avalanche is hardly "cute" or "little", and that it gets 11 MPG city on E85. I can only imagine the disappointment when she and millions of other consumers find out. At the moment, the ads only mislead the sort of people who are interested in the ads in the first place.

So my question is, why doesn't GM produce any fuel-efficient FlexFuel vehicles for the environmentally conscious? Switching to alternative fuels is great, but focus should also be on reducing consumption, because even the water vapor coming out of a hydrogen vehicle is a greenhouse gas.

An Avalanche running on E85 still burns 205 gallons of foreign-sourced gasoline into the atmosphere annually, in addition to 1160 gallons of ethanol. I don't think that's what my biology teacher was expecting. And spreading agriculture, as would be required to run more cars on E85, is always destructive to ecosystems.

GM does not offer a vehicle for people who want to consume as little fuel and emit as few emissions as possible. They can change this by offering a FlexFuel Cobalt, HHR, or VUE, coupled to GM's BAS start-stop system. GM should offer compelling reasons for people to switch over from their unneccesarily gas-guzzling SUVs into smaller, more efficient cars.

What do you think? Why isn't this happening now, if all it takes are new fuel lines and some programming?

[Drew Dowdell]

E85 Impala 3.5?

E85 Taurus

Chrysler Sebring 2.7

DCX mini-vans

MB C240/C320

Edited May 28, 2006 by Oldsmoboi

[pow]

E85 Impala 3.5?

E85 Taurus

Chrysler Sebring 2.7

DCX mini-vans

MB C240/C320

The most efficient one (and the sole GM car) gets 21/31 on gasoline and 16/24 on E85, which is still rather thirsty and expensive. Now imagine a Cobalt BAS hybrid that gets, say, 32/38 on gas or 24/29 on E85.

[Drew Dowdell]

oh yeah, forgot one

Escape Hybrid E85.... is coming.

[Dsuupr]

I thought GM was going to convert the Ecotec shortly to E85 capability?

[pow]

I thought GM was going to convert the Ecotec shortly to E85 capability?

They better frickin' hurry up then!!!

[PurdueGuy]

They ought to make all their cars E85 compatible over the next 2 years. Shouldn't take much.

[rueben44]

Yes these models drink more gas but they do not emit the same amounts of dangerous pollutants into the atmosphere which is the long term goal! However I do agree they do need to find ways to stretch these models economy. I thought I read that an E85 Tahoe emitted fewer toxins than a Prius into the atmosphere. I think I read that some where.

[tmp]

the beauty of E85 is not that it's more efficient, it's that it's less of an impact on the environment, and uses a very renewable resource.

Having written that, it would be nice if there was a push to get E85 out there for us to purchase

[PurdueGuy]

the beauty of E85 is not that it's more efficient, it's that it's less of an impact on the environment, and uses a very renewable resource.

Having written that, it would be nice if there was a push to get E85 out there for us to purchase

There is a push in a number of places. Meijer stores around Michigan, and now I believe Indiana have been getting them. Also, about 20 minutes north of me, a small Indiana town has decided to try to put itself on the map by nicknaming itself "bio-town" and having biodiesel & E85 used in all town equipment, and having both avaliable to the public, as well as a small processing plant outside of town that uses manure to make the biodiesel. It's a pretty small town, though, so using this stuff in "all their equipment" isn't saying much. lol