Benefits of flex fuel

Benefits of flex fuel

Flex fuel refers to vehicles that are able to run on both gasoline and other types of fuel like ethanol. Vehicles that are configured to have so-called flexible-fuel engines have increasingly become popular because of improved overall performance. The following are the supposed benefits that people can get from flex fuel vehicles:

1. ‘ Better fuel mileage

Using ethanol as an alternative fuel along with gasoline only requires minimal configuration in the engines and gas tanks. ‘ Being able to alternate between gas and ethanol for example is said to help achieve better fuel efficiency. ‘ As much as 20% fuel can be saved when using flex-fuel vehicles. ‘ This literally means that a typical gas engine can use up 20% more fuel compared with a flex fuel engine covering the same distance.

2. Better engine performance

Alcohols like methanol and ethanol are known to reach their peak torque significantly faster than standard gasoline. This effect on torque will basically translate to better overall engine performance for flex fuel cars. With improvement in torque, there is also a corresponding increase in engine power resulting to better performance.

3. Lower emissions

Cars have always been associated with large emissions of toxic substances to the environment. ‘ Gasoline-fed cars for example are known culprits to the industrial emissions that result to environmental degradation or global warming. ‘ Flex fuel vehicles though are known to produce less emissions when compared to their purely gasoline engine counterparts. With ethanol-based fuel, there will be reduction in the emission of harmful substances such as carbon monoxide and benzene.

Overall, flex fuel engines are promoted based on fuel efficiency results. With this benefit alone, many people have gone on to have their cars converted to allow for the flex fuel setup. ‘ It is also important to note that there is no engine performance loss when a flex fuel vehicle converts or uses ethanol as its fuel source.

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