Can I Use Drinking Alcohol in my Flex Fuel Car?
The other day while pondering the effectiveness and durability of different "clean car" options available on the market, specifically flexfuel cars vs. veggie oil vs. EV, I began considering which fuel type would be the most convenient if the grid went down and suddenly gasoline became unavailable. I've heard that up here in Northern California when the power has gone out in the past, nobody can pump gas because the pumps run on electricity and furthermore, nobody can accept credit cards. This would mean an EV couldn't be charged unless you had solar panels at your house. Veggie oil might be available at a few select locations but probably would not very convenient if there was a state of panic. What if this happened and I needed to drive somewhere with my car immediately? What if I had a flex fuel car that could run off of E85 ethanol or gasoline, could I use a bottle of Scotch or Vodka to power my flex fuel vehicle?
It troubles me to have to answer this question, almost making me want
to sip a fine single malt before I write my response, but for the sake
of coherency, I will resist the temptation. Although there are a lot
of products found in a typical liquor store that would be better off
burned than drunk, it's not a good idea to pour any of them into your
vehicle's tank, even if your vehicle is flex fuel capable. The reason is
that even the strongest substances, for example 100 proof whiskey,
still contain 50% water and that mixture will not burn properly in an
automobile's engine and is likely to damage it.
To get the percentage concentration of ethanol in a bottle of spirits you need to divide the proof in half. Ideally, to run a flex fuel car, you should have something that is 200 proof or 100% ethyl alcohol. However, you won't find this concentration of alcohol in anything you can buy at a liquor store. The reason is because removing all of the water from alcohol requires a secondary step since distillation can only get to a maximum concentration of 95% alcohol. To dry the alcohol, you need to pass it through a material like zeolite, which will absorb the remaining water, allowing just the alcohol to pass and then presto - you will have pure ethyl alcohol capable of running a flex fuel vehicle.
However, zeolite isn't something most of us have laying around, and a 95% alcohol concentration would most likely allow you to power a car in a pinch without risking damage to it. That said WARNING, I am not recommending this as a long term solution and do not want to be liable when your brand new flex fuel car throws a rod. Okay, now that we've covered liability... Many liquor stores carry a substance college students use to make up a rather potent form of alcoholic punch. The brand name most commonly used for this drink is Everclear and it is 190 proof ethyl alcohol, also sometimes called grain alcohol. However, it's likely to be costly compared to E85 fuel. Not that I've been pricing it lately, but I expect that a gallon of Everclear could set you back as much as $80. That's still a much better price than the equivalent alcohol you'd get from further distilling and then drying the alcohol in a fine bottle of Scotch, and if you really needed to drive somewhere then it might be worth it.
It troubles me to have to answer this question, almost making me want
to sip a fine single malt before I write my response, but for the sake
of coherency, I will resist the temptation. Although there are a lot
of products found in a typical liquor store that would be better off
burned than drunk, it's not a good idea to pour any of them into your
vehicle's tank, even if your vehicle is flex fuel capable. The reason is
that even the strongest substances, for example 100 proof whiskey,
still contain 50% water and that mixture will not burn properly in an
automobile's engine and is likely to damage it.To get the percentage concentration of ethanol in a bottle of spirits you need to divide the proof in half. Ideally, to run a flex fuel car, you should have something that is 200 proof or 100% ethyl alcohol. However, you won't find this concentration of alcohol in anything you can buy at a liquor store. The reason is because removing all of the water from alcohol requires a secondary step since distillation can only get to a maximum concentration of 95% alcohol. To dry the alcohol, you need to pass it through a material like zeolite, which will absorb the remaining water, allowing just the alcohol to pass and then presto - you will have pure ethyl alcohol capable of running a flex fuel vehicle.
However, zeolite isn't something most of us have laying around, and a 95% alcohol concentration would most likely allow you to power a car in a pinch without risking damage to it. That said WARNING, I am not recommending this as a long term solution and do not want to be liable when your brand new flex fuel car throws a rod. Okay, now that we've covered liability... Many liquor stores carry a substance college students use to make up a rather potent form of alcoholic punch. The brand name most commonly used for this drink is Everclear and it is 190 proof ethyl alcohol, also sometimes called grain alcohol. However, it's likely to be costly compared to E85 fuel. Not that I've been pricing it lately, but I expect that a gallon of Everclear could set you back as much as $80. That's still a much better price than the equivalent alcohol you'd get from further distilling and then drying the alcohol in a fine bottle of Scotch, and if you really needed to drive somewhere then it might be worth it.
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