Research Reports: "According to fueleconomy.gov, a car that gets 16 miles-per-gallon on gas will get only 12 miles on E85. "
Competition from Gasoline: Ethanol offers the promise of domestic energy independence, but it must be able to compete with gasoline to have long-term profitability. It must also be mentioned that ethanol is at a disadvantage compared to gasoline in mile-per-gallon fuel efficiency. It was also recently reported that the wholesale price of ethanol “was around $3 per gallon compared with about $2.28 for gasoline (before being mixed with ethanol).” Even with GM and Ford having made announcements about producing more flex-fuel cars capable of running on E85, and with more gas stations offering E85, it is questionable whether motorists will find E85 economically justifiable.