Some fuel options are hard to find

was by accident that Chad Lange learned that he had choices at the fuel pump.

Lange, 30, pulled his 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe into the Mobil On the Run station at Fifth Street and Bass Pro Drive in St. Charles more than a year ago. He was looking for a carwash when he read a chart at the counter that his SUV was a flex-fuel vehicle that could run on gasoline or the 85 percent ethanol blend sold at two of the station nozzles.

He's been an alternative fuel convert ever since - admittedly more for the price than the environmental benefits - except when the price of E85 surpasses regular unleaded gasoline, as it did by 4 cents a gallon on Thursday.

Lange said he wasn't told when he bought the car. "That turned out to be a bonus."
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Soaring gasoline prices this spring and warnings that things won't get much better this summer have primed drivers for alternative fuels and vehicles. Known chiefly for their environmentally friendly qualities, the technologies are now picking up support as a way to insulate America from the whims of world oil markets.

But many experts agree that these options to gas-powered cars won't be widely available anytime soon.

Renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel aren't sold in large enough quantities, and not all cars can use them. Compressed natural gas powers a few St. Louis-area fleets but not much else. Fuel-efficient hybrids promise a major leap in gas mileage but still come with a hefty price tag.

During the recent spike in gas prices, President George W. Bush again hailed alternatives to gasoline such as hydrogen fuel cells, although cars running on that technology won't be showroom-ready for at least another decade. Last week, he urged lawmakers to expand tax breaks for the purchase of hybrid and clean-diesel vehicles.

And with the price of regular gasoline topping $3 a gallon in some parts of the country - compared to the $2.78 average reported by AAA Missouri last week in the St. Louis area - the motoring public is hungry for a choice. Any choice.

"There's got to be something - some type of alternative," Jim Riskovsky of O'Fallon, Mo., as he filled six 5-gallon containers with the E85 blend last week. "Ethanol benefits the farmers. You are spending the money for people here at home as opposed to overseas. We are helping Americans."

Performance, reliability

Al Mannato, fuel issues manager at the American Petroleum Institute, said the oil industry favored the continued use of ethanol as a fuel additive. It is currently used in major metropolitan areas, including St. Louis, as an "oxygenate" - an ingredient for cleaner-burning, reformulated gasoline.

"The motoring public wants two things," Mannato said. "They want performance, and they want reliability. They get that from the gasoline-powered fleet we have. So in order for an alternative to really take hold in the U.S. and move beyond the fringe, you need those two components.

"Because of that, we are going to be dealing with gasoline and diesel for a long time. That is just a reality."

There are 8 million alternative-fuel vehicles on the nation's roads today. And automobile manufacturers say there is room for more.

"We have the perfect confluence of events for alternative fuel vehicles to go mainstream," including high gas prices, instability among foreign energy sources and a greater emphasis on environmental protection, said Eron Shosteck, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.

Shosteck said there are "multiple pathways" and technologies to reduce America's reliance on gasoline, but it will take partnerships among the automobile industry, fuel providers, government and the public.

Industry and environmental groups agree that the time is ripe for a major push on alternative fuel vehicles.

"The challenge is not one of technology, and we certainly don't have to wait around for 15 to 20 years for the perfect fuel cell to come out of the lab," said Nathanael Greene, senior policy analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We need to start doing things now."

Greene and others say it is a classic chicken-and-egg dilemma. Consumers don't know what choices are possible, and automobile manufacturers don't want to make risky investments.

Michelle Kautz, director of communications for the Jefferson City-based National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition, said about 680 of the nation's 165,000 gas stations currently offer E85, an 85 percent ethanol fuel. That includes 118 in Illinois and 47 outlets in Missouri. A handful can be found in the St. Louis area.

Momentum is mounting, Kautz said, for more ethanol in the marketplace.

"There are more vehicles being produced," she said. "The federal and state governments are getting behind this product," providing tax incentives to retailers who switch to the greater ethanol blend.

Demand for ethanol has spurred construction of new farmer-owned plants in Missouri to manufacture the product. There are 20 plants in Illinois. Nationwide, state and federal subsidies have aided the production of ethanol.

A study last year showed that it takes more fossil energy to turn corn into ethanol than the fuel produced - a finding that's fiercely disputed by ethanol supporters.

Ethanol demand has been at a record high since methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) - another clean-gasoline additive - was phased out in some parts of the country after it fouled water supplies, Kautz said. That has driven up ethanol prices.

Jenna Higgins, spokeswoman for the National Biodiesel Board, said sales of that product tripled last year over 2004.

Pure biodiesel is derived from vegetable oils or animal fats and is usually blended with traditional diesel before use. It can be used in most diesel engines.

There are about 600 fleets across the country using a biodiesel blend. Many individual motorists and commercial truck drivers buy it at a price that has historically been higher than typical diesel, Higgins said, but more recently has been competitive because of federal tax incentives. So far, there are limited retail pumps - about 700 nationally.

"The supply is still catching up in many areas," Higgins said. "It is in a period of flux right now. But a number of new plants have come only recently, which has helped increase supply."

Mike Right, a spokesman for AAA Missouri, said the public appetite for alternative fuels and other technologies will rise and fall with the fuel markets.

"Like the price of oil, it depends," he said. "If oil goes to $100 a barrel. If gas goes to $5 a gallon. The higher the price of gasoline, the more attractive alternatives become."

Novelty vehicles

For now, private car owners who drive alternative-fuel vehicles engage in more of a novelty than a norm.

Last week, Gerard Osko of north St. Louis County drove a 1997 Dodge Caravan to a Laclede Gas Co. compressed natural gas pump in Shrewsbury and filled up at the equivalent of $1.89 a gallon.

Osko, who is driving the van as part of a private study on compressed natural gas vehicles, said he logs the van's miles, energy consumption and cost on a spreadsheet. Soon, he will be able to fuel the car at home with the help of a special pump that taps into his home's natural gas system.

"It is obviously quite a bit cheaper than gasoline," said Osko, who uses the van to go back and forth to work in Maryland Heights.

It took just a few minutes to fill the van's tank at a cost of $12.15 through a hose that is smaller than the typical garden hose.

Osko looks at compressed natural gas as a "novelty" among private car owners but in no way a panacea. Most of the vehicles he sees at the Laclede pump are part of government fleets, like buses and trash trucks.

"We would have to have natural gas pumps at gas stations so it would be convenient," he said. "As long as it is inconvenient, I don't see it at this point as an option."

Mike Chancey of Kansas City has been driving electric cars since 1990.

At first he was drawn by the environmental benefits but became hooked by the engineering side of it. He built his own in 1999, a Honda Civic conversion, and has been driving that ever since. It takes about two hours to charge the car at home, and he gets about 30 miles before it must be recharged.

"Every time the price of gas goes up, the interest in electric vehicles swells," Chancey said.

There aren't many electric car owners in Missouri, he said, in part because the vehicles aren't sold commercially.

"If the car were available, more people would buy them," said Chancey, treasurer of the Midamerica Electric Auto Association.

Lange, who drives the flex-fuel Tahoe, said he gets about 15.5 miles to the gallon on the fuel containing more ethanol. One of the knocks is that gas mileage can suffer because of higher ethanol content.

Until recently, he said, it was cheaper to fill up on the E85 blend by about 10 or 11 cents.

One thing he doesn't see at the ethanol pump is a line: "I have never had to wait."

kleiser@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8215

YOU SAID IT

Visitors to the Talk of the Day blog on STLtoday.com posted these comments on gas prices:

"The current gasoline prices only drive stupid people nuts. The rest of us understand how commodity markets work and how they in turn affect retail prices. We may not like it, but there’s not a whole lot we can do about it."

Robert Frick St. Charles

"I don’t believe there is just one solution to the problem any more than there is a single cause. But we certainly need to take more aggressive action as a nation to stop our dependence on oil. We would be doing ourselves a huge favor. And since we are not the only country affected by terrorist activity, we would be doing the rest of the world a favor as well."

Rebekah Outman St. Louis

"Maybe we could all drive less and stop destroying the environment. Maybe we could start creating suburbs with environments tailored to pedestrians and not cars. Maybe Americans will have to realize that just because they want to drive does not mean they get to drive. Maybe people will move back to the city and inner suburbs because they will realize how stupid a 30- to 50-mile commute is. Maybe the fed, state, counties and cities will stop paving roads and start building mass transportation. Or, we could just continue to dump our money into cars, raise the Earth’s temperature, destroy greenfields, get fat and live as far away as possible from anything worth caring about."

Jon Galloway ê University City

"That’s their decision but don’t say you can’t or couldn’t use less — Gas prices make such big news because we see them every day, the prices are more volatile than most other products, and there’s a lot of known (and misunderstood) political, social, and economic issues involved. The price of bread is also at a ridiculously high price compared to 1966 — but we don’t complain about that. Why? Because bread, like everything else, rose at a very steady pace in 40 years, no surprises from week to week."

Richard Walton ê St. Louis County

"And it’s much easier to raise gas prices when you do it in the manner it’s being done currently. What’s $2.78 when it used to be $3? That’s a bargain (comparatively). When they raise it to $3.50 for a week or two, yeah everyone will be up in arms. But once they drop it to $3.15, oh, what a relief. How spoiled we were when gas was $2.78 a gallon. Shame on us for being so greedy!"

Matt Unger ê Fairway, Kan.

"The question that I ask all of you is: Do the people that live off of the corn and wheat that is supplied by this nation to the rest of the world eat less of it to get the price down? The oil-producing nations can’t grow a weed, much less something to eat. Some things just don’t seem to be right about this whole thing."

Tom Rowe St. Ptrs

"Th problm is that popl s driving as a right, not a privilg. You don’t HAV to driv. Popl bliv th ful usd to giv thm th right should b guarantd at a fair pric. Wll, what is th fair pric? Usually it’s what th markt will bar. Ths days I still s SUV bhmoths lumbring around .€.€. At what pric will popl just stop buying ful?"