Flexible fuel vehicles run on gasoline or “E85”, which is a mix of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gas. Refiners take ethanol; mix it with gasoline to make E85 fuel, the benefits of which are cleaner, more environmentally friendly emissions and slightly more horsepower. It’s not really new. In fact, we all use what some call “E10” right now, which is a mix of 90 percent gasoline and 10 percent ethanol, and will soon begin using more ethanol, as refiners replace the chemical MTBE with ethanol as an additive to regular gasoline. According to the National Coalition of Ethanol Vehicles, “ethanol is produced by the fermentation of plant sugars, typically corn and other grains.” Look at it this way: they mash a bunch of corn, wheat or sugarcane into a pulp, squeeze out the liquid and, basically, make ethanol. Currently, the US uses corn, and with it comes a heavy subsidy and a 54-cent per gallon tariff on imported corn juice. That’s something proponents say helps to protect our farmers, while critics claim that it keeps the price high and hurts competition, ultimately bumping up the price at the pump and slowing market acceptance.

Ah – so it’s a political issue. That means it will never be solved, and Exxon can rest easy. Fortunately, it’s so popular right now that ethanol may solve itself – and wouldn’t that be a neat trick. There’s even talk of adding sugarcane ethanol, much in the same way Brazil refines ethanol. The trouble is that sugarcane-as-ethanol is considered to be an environmental boo-boo, and some claim that a higher subsidy is needed to make our own.