Sold by all U.S. vehicle manufacturers, flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) are capable of operating on gasoline, E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline), or a mixture of both. There are more than 6 million flexible fuel vehicles on U.S. roads today, but many FFV owners don't know their vehicle is one.  Is yours?

What is a Flex Fuel Vehicle?

Flex fuel vehicles are similar to their conventional gasoline counterparts, however they are capable of operating on gasoline, E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline), or a mixture of both.  Unlike natural gas and propane bi-fuel vehicles, flexible fuel vehicles contain only one fueling system, which is made up of ethanol compatible components and is set to accommodate the higher oxygen content of E85.  

The power, acceleration, payload, and cruise speed of FFVs are comparable whether running on ethanol or gasoline. The only noticeable difference: fuel economy is lower when FFVs run on higher percentages of ethanol.

Benefits of a Flex Fuel Vehicle:

The advantages of FFVs parallel the benefits of using ethanol as fuel.  Fundamentally, using ethanol as a vehicle fuel provides local and global benefits: reduction of harmful emissions and support of the agricultural sector.  Ethanol is a renewable, largely domestic transportation fuel that can reduce exhaust emissions of carbon monoxide by 20% to 30% compared with pure gasoline.

Incentives:

Many federal and state incentives encourage ethanol production and use in FFVs.  Learn more about Louisiana’s Alternative Fuel Vehicle (AFV) Tax Credit on our Incentives page. 

Additional Information:

For further reading on Benefits and Availability of Flexible Fuel Vehicle visit http://www.eere.energy.gov/ afdc/ vehicles/flexible_fuel.html.   

Source: U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Alternative Fuels & Advanced Vehicles Data Center (http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/)