I have been running non-ethanol gas in my S 2000 to see if there is any difference from gas with ethanol. While mileage appears to have picked up a mile or so at best and perhaps performance "seems" a little better, I must admit the assessment is, at best, quite subjective. The price difference is considerable -- right at .30 per gallon, so it would appear not to be cost effective. What has been the "groups" experience on this subject.
My experience is that it has become difficult and some places impossible to find gasoline without ethanol, especially during winter months.
The POI Factory has a custom POI (Garmin) for ethanol-free gas stations. I've found it pretty accurate, at least in AL and GA. They may have one for other GPS brands as well.
OK. i suspect it's a state by state thing. In Oregon, they changed the law to require 10% ethanol all year. I don't know if that applies to the few gas stations on Indian land. The state ban on self-service gas doesn't.
Same in Washington state. But they are already talking about 15%.
I 've been always wondering why Oregon prohibits self-service when all other states I've been to allow it. Do the OR politicians think that their people are too stupid for self-service?
NJ doesn't allow self-service either.
So what is the justification for that?
It results from political pressure from big contributors (and payback to them) to keep gas prices higher than the free market would support. Main culprit is state gasoline retailers trade association whose members benefit from the higher prices.
In answer to questions like yours, always remember: Follow the money!
Actually, I thought perhaps some gas station attendant union is involved in it and this rule would force the station owners to employ more of them than they would otherwise. In either case, the reason is politics, not a public safety issue, I think.
That too...
There is a lot of misinformation in this thread. Gas prices in NJ are generally lower than the neighboring states, and I think the rest of the country for that matter. There is no "gas station attendant union". And 'follow the money'??? The money has for years been trying to get self service - all the oil companies and chain retailers want it. This issue in one of the few in which politicians have stood up for the people and kept NJ civilized. Our wives, mothers and grandmothers don't have to pump gas in the heat/cold/rain/snow. And pumping gas is a great first job for thousands of young people, and part time second job for many older ones.
What a quaint, 1940's view of womanhood.
My wife can: use a chainsaw, reload shotgun shells, change the oil in her car....and before you make a crack about how she looks--- made it to the third cut of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders tryouts back when she was younger...
that says NOTHING about what she looks like today.
That was considered in Oregon; however there is a concern that would void manufacturer warranties. Manuals state that up to 10% ethanol fuel may be used. We don't need a boatload of class-action lawsuits that leave the consumers stuck in the middle and SOL.
From what I have read, there is some citizen group that objects to self-service fueling. Any time there has been a proposal even to put it on the ballot for the voters to decide, the group threatens political retaliation, or so I've read. Apparently the voters aren't motivated enough to try a citizen initiative. In 11 years I have not heard any reports of fuel stations on Indian land blowing up because drivers fill their own tanks. And while it's nice to not to have to get out when it's raining, gas stations have remodeled to put solid canopies over the pump islands as part of vapor recovery.
Also, laws do not need a justification or logical reason to exist, IMO.
What does ethanol have to do with self-service?
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