Got Ethanol? Probably Not...

Although ethanol has been widely hyped as a home-grown alternative to imported oil, drivers can fill up with the stuff at only a tiny fraction of U.S. service stations, The Wall Street Journal reported.

There are a number of reasons why the fuel, which is made out of corn, is not widely available, but the biggest is resistance from oil companies, the WSJ said.

Despite public enthusiasm from some oil executives for alternative fuels, oil-company policies make it hard for many service stations to stock a fuel called E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

Oil companies lose sales every time a driver chooses E85, and they use various ploys keep the fuel out of stations that bear the company name. Among the tactics that the WSJ noted: franchises sometimes are required to purchase all the fuel they sell from the oil company, but since oil companies generally don't sell E85, the stations are stuck unless the company grants an exception and lets them buy from another supplier; contracts sometimes limit advertising of E85 and restrict the use of credit cards to pay for it; some companies require that any E85 pump be on a separate island, not under the main canopy.

http://www.caranddriver.com/dailyautoinsider/12769/got-ethanol-probably-not.html