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E85Forum.com
Fueling the E85 community
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hotrod
Joined: 19 Apr 2005
Posts: 566
Location: Colorado
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 Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2008 3:17 pm Post subject: |
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Go in and buy just 2 gallons of it and then tell the station owner you would have filled the tank if he was pricing it properly!
Be vocal!
Lots of these stations have no clue people are watching the E85 / gasoline price spread and have no clue what proper pricing is.
We need to do some "training" point them to the E85 prices link and ask then why they are not dropping E85 prices so it maintains its cost effectiveness.
Larry |
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440Jim
Joined: 01 Jan 2008
Posts: 66
Location: Maryland
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| Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:47 pm Post subject: |
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Yea, I agree.
Some stations are charging too much for E85 and it hurts sales making it tougher to justify the lower price (margin). I don't know the "right" number, and every business needs to recoup capital costs (pumps/tank), and make a profit to stay in business. But selling volume is the way to make money, not large margins and low volume. If they would price the E85 to make it even with gasoline in cost/mile in a flex fuel vehicle; then all the flex fuel owners would buy E85 rather than gasoline and that would increase sales volume.
Now would that be 15-20% less per gallon?
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1969 Dodge Dart GTS, 511 CID big block
E85 Best: 1.266 60ft, 5.861 1/8th mile / 9.30's 1/4 mile at 3190 lbs, 4150 carb... not even a roller cam! |
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Alcohol
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 205
Location: Central Wisconsin
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| Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2008 8:38 pm Post subject: |
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I find that when I can offer E85 at 22-27% less than NL Gas it creates goodwill and excitement which lifts gasoline sales greatly also. Reason- people typically only own 1 FFV and they have 1-2 standard vehicles which they will also go out of the way to fill at my stations. This may not be true for all stations but it is for mine.
So the next time you see E85 not priced at 18% or better- tell 'em what I said  Product mix at my sites range from 15-40% of sales for E85- depending on the # of FFV's around (more affluent=more FFV's/ larger market size=more FFV's). All our sites are priced the same for E85. |
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68LAR
Joined: 22 Feb 2008
Posts: 34
Location: South Park, Pa.
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 8:25 am Post subject: |
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As 87 octane has dropped from $3.99 to $3.59 in the past month of so, E-85 has dropped from $3.65 to $3.35. When I decided to do the conversion, is was solely based on the comparison of E-85 to 93 octane, not 87. As it stands now, I'm considering going back to gas. Figuring that I will use around 25% more E-85 than 93, It's costing more to run the E-85 at this time. 93 octane is now $3.99 around here. With a 22 gallon fill up it will cost me $87.78. With a 22 gallon fill up of E-85, it will cost me $73.70. But I will use 25% more E-85, so actually it will cost me $91.96 to travel the same mileage as the 97 octane.
Why does the price of E-85 jump as fast as gasoline, but doesn't drop as fast?  If the reason is based on sales volumn, then it shouldn't raise as fast either. Just my 2 cents worth of ranting.
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Alcohol
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 205
Location: Central Wisconsin
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:31 am Post subject: |
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| 68LAR wrote: | As 87 octane has dropped from $3.99 to $3.59 in the past month of so, E-85 has dropped from $3.65 to $3.35. When I decided to do the conversion, is was solely based on the comparison of E-85 to 93 octane, not 87. As it stands now, I'm considering going back to gas. Figuring that I will use around 25% more E-85 than 93, It's costing more to run the E-85 at this time. 93 octane is now $3.99 around here. With a 22 gallon fill up it will cost me $87.78. With a 22 gallon fill up of E-85, it will cost me $73.70. But I will use 25% more E-85, so actually it will cost me $91.96 to travel the same mileage as the 97 octane.
Why does the price of E-85 jump as fast as gasoline, but doesn't drop as fast? If the reason is based on sales volumn, then it shouldn't raise as fast either. Just my 2 cents worth of ranting. |
Why does E85 raise as fast as gas??-- this is either a retailer driven thing or they are picking up ethanol at oil racks which tend to follow gas far more than ethanol plant FOB material. You might want to hold off on the switch another few days- just the threat of IKE has that gulf and Chicago spot (large trade) gas markets up 20-30 cents today. It will be interesting to see if they move up E85 in lockstep (might some as E85 will be E76 now). Of course- you could just fill with either today and not get soaked. |
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buzzcut
Joined: 20 Mar 2008
Posts: 29
Location: Northwest Indiana, Chicago 'burb
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| Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2008 1:44 pm Post subject: |
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For what it's worth...
CBOT has ethanol at $2.16 a gallon.
NYMEX has unleaded at $2.69 a gallon.
I found a web site that allegedly shows rack prices:
5-Sep-2008 Today
Alabama 3.1158
Arkansas 2.7601
Colorado 2.7505
Florida 3.1013
Georgia 2.7883
Iowa 2.4303
Illinois 2.474
Indiana 2.4686
Kansas 2.5822
Louisiana 3.069
Michigan 2.33
Minnesota 2.4043
Missouri 2.6003
Montana 2.508
North Dakota 2.4243
Nebraska 2.6934
North Carolina 2.8439
Ohio 2.44
Oklahoma 2.55
Oregon 2.591
South Carolina 2.89
South Dakota 2.3789
Washington 2.574
Wisconsin 2.5613
Wyoming 2.508
Average 2.6335
So what should E85 cost? I'm guessing $2.65 to $2.90 a gallon, for what is now really E74 in Indiana. |
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CARS
Joined: 27 Jun 2005
Posts: 54
Location: Comfrey MN
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| Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2008 2:25 pm Post subject: |
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Local station has E85 at $2.55 and unleaded at $3.55
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lilwillie_WI
Joined: 11 Jun 2008
Posts: 21
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| Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 4:56 pm Post subject: |
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Sauk City Wisconsin went to $3.09 for E85 with 87 octane gas at $3.89
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