After 18 months and 22,000 miles, ACE's Hybrid Electric Flex Fuel vehicle, aka “HEFF" is halfway through its three-year journey to demonstrate a hybrid vehicle powered by ethanol is not only possible, but is the simplest, fastest and least expensive way to reduce carbon intensity in vehicles and is more likely to reach net-zero emissions before any other options out there.
As California Governor Gavin Newsom fueled electric vehicle rhetoric proclaiming “all new cars and passenger trucks sold in California be zero-emission vehicles” by 2035, and with that proclamation widely being mis-characterized as a battery electric vehicle (BEV) mandate, ACE decided to move forward with the HEFF project.
Using EPA's estimates for a gasoline powered hybrid vehicle and substituting lower carbon intensity (CI) E85 for the gas, we calculated a flex fuel hybrid vehicle could achieve lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 170 grams per mile (GPM) or less, with potential of 90 GPM or lower using existing CARB certified low CI ethanol.
The most recent GREET numbers confirm our estimates of a grid independent E85 hybrid as the cleanest vehicle available.
Most standard gas vehicles emit over 400 GPM, and EPA halves those estimates for hybrids, assuming 50 percent battery use. BEVs are estimated to emit 150 GPM of lifecycle greenhouse gasses or more, but EPA’s estimates of hybrid and BEV ranges are generous compared to miles per charge reported in the real world.
We found the same testing HEFF, a 2019 Ford Fusion Hybrid. Prior to conversion, we logged 3,700 miles using regular E10, and got just over 34 miles per gallon (MPG), 17 percent below EPA’s 41 MPG gas estimate. A second E10 mileage check during winter resulted in 29 MPG, which is in line with typical winter mileage loss. Anecdotal reports from hybrid owners say their MPG drops each year, most attributing the loss to less time running on battery. In a fortunate twist of fate, an Uber driver I rode with in Sacramento, California last summer told me his 2019 Tesla Model 3 (the BEV we often compare to HEFF) originally had a 300-mile range on full charge but was getting 225 to 240 miles on a full charge three years later.
The bottom line: At midpoint, HEFF has traveled 17,500 miles on fuel averaging 71 percent ethanol, getting 26 MPG at a cost of 10.6 cents per mile. Using E10 pump prices and MPG calculated using earlier results, even with higher E10 MPG, regular gasoline would have cost 11 cents per mile – about $120 more – for the same miles. Calculated emissions are about 215 grams of carbon per mile on E71 and would be around 155 using the lowest CI ethanol currently available. More info coming soon!