Exactly why an Open Fuel Standard is necessary

This is a good illustration of why the Open Fuel Standard – which would ensure most new cars sold in the US have a $100 feature making them gasoline-ethanol-methanol flexible thus enabling fuel choice – is necessary. For the business case to be there for a fuel station owner that has say 10 pumps to make one of those an alcohol pump (ethanol or methanol), the density of vehicles in his area that can use the fuel needs to hit 15-20%. To get to that point (ie solve the chicken and egg problem), you need most new cars sold in the US to be flex fuel vehicles (FFVs). A couple years after an OFS is in force, that threshold is reached. Federal vehicles are a paltry percentage of the overall fleet, and don’t achieve this threshold. Thus they are generally fueled with gasoline.
Second, automakers are not making all vehicle models FFVs today, but generally just the bigger ones. OFS would ensure that one wouldn’t have to suffer a mileage hit to have fuel choice.

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