pure-gas.org needs your favorite station!

[kenk]

Gee - I wish you'd tell all the eastern states where enthanol is required - like NJ. I've travelled recently in NY, NJ, PA, DE, MD, WDC, VA, NC and SC - and can't recall a single station I got fuel at that didn't have ethanol laced fuel.

I guess that means they're shipping the stuff from the states that produce it eh?

You're obviously exaggerating. Even though ethanol has now reached 9,600,000 million gallons a year, this is only a small faction of the total number of gallons of gas used yearly in the US.

In 2004, the United States consumed about 140 billion gallons of gasoline, more than any other country. Consumption averages about 380 million gallons of gasoline per day in 2004 and is reaching 400 million gallons per day in 2006. The 3.4 billion gallons of ethanol produced in 2004 represent about 2% of gasoline consumption. The 75 million gallons of biodiesel produced in 2005 represent a tiny fraction of roughly 40 billion gallons of diesel used each year for on-road transportation. (Sources: Annual Energy Outlook 2006 and U.S. Heating Oil, Diesel Fuel, And Distillate Data from the Energy Information Administration)

Distribution is hindered by its inability to use pipelines. Due to this reason, ethanol is used less in none producing states.

Can ethanol be used by existing fuel-distribution infrastructure? Due to transportation difficulties, its not commonly used when you leave the midwest.

Ethanol and gasoline-ethanol blends cannot be transported by existing pipelines that carry gasoline. Water present in petroleum pipelines can pull ethanol out and cause ethanol-gasoline blends to separate into two phases. Ethanol must be transported by train, barge, or truck within an independent distribution system to ensure handling separate from the ethanol-production facility to distribution terminals, where ethanol is blended with gasoline just before delivery to retail stations.

 

[ENFOMAN]

" Water present in petroleum pipelines can pull ethanol out and cause ethanol-gasoline blends to separate into two phases."

I have first hand experience in this area when over the summer Phase change happened in my antique car gas tank. This is Ugly and jelly. Not good for any fuel system. Since then I sought out a 100% gas pump and have been using it. Yeah it cost a bit more but the advantages are worth it IMO.

 

[CarolinaRT]

US Ethanol Production - the Actual Number

In 2008, US ethanol production was 9 BILLION gallons. Gasoline production is also high but 9 billion divided by anything is still a sizeable percentage. Just imagine how much corn is takes to make 9 Billion gallons of anything.

Industry site:
www.ethanolrfa.org/industry/statistics/#A

 

[breyfogle]

.... but 9 billion divided by anything is still a sizeable percentage. ...

??? Math was obviously not your strongest subject in school.

 

[Astrin]

Over 250 stations listed now!

Hi, folks, just a bump to let you know that the posts to pure-gas.org have been coming fast and furious, we now have over 250 stations listed and it's growing by up to 10 stations a day. Plus, I have a few lists to bulk enter, I'll try to get those in soon.

So, as riding season gets underway in the northern states, and is underway as always in the southern states, be sure to check pure-gas.org if you like to fuel your bike with ethanol-free gas. And please enter any stations that you come across in your travels!

 

[tourunigo]

don't forget, as you make your summer plans, that all of Atlantic Canada is ethanol free. - Bob

 

[BlueStreak]

Gentlemen,

How about a poll to settle this? Something like ...

My philosophy on motorcycling is best represented by which of the following statements (choose one):

1. So many motorcycles, so little time.

2. So little pure gas, so much time.

 

[Astrin]

Well, the way pure-gas.org has been growing lately, I'd say you need a third option:

3. So many motorcycles, so much pure gas, so little time!

 

[rocketman]

You're obviously exaggerating. Even though ethanol has now reached 9,600,000 million gallons a year, this is only a small faction of the total number of gallons of gas used yearly in the US.

[/I]

Actually he's not, I too live on the eastern seaboard and travel extenvisely here and can only think of one station that sold pure gas in the Mid-Atlantic region, 10% is more the norm than not.

RM

 

[wkottd]

If your going to be in Minnesota, the Minnesota street rod association (MSRA) has an excellent list of stations selling non oxygenated fuel. The list is updated every 4 months.
You can find it at:
http://www.msra.com/NonOxygenatedFuel/NonOxyListFeb2010.pdf
Bill

 

[Astrin]

Much appreciated, Bill, I've asked one of that club's members if they have that data in a spreadsheet so I can load it directly into the pure-gas.org database. It's a bit of a daunting task to key it all in off of the PDF!

 

[Astrin]

Nearly 600 stations now in pure-gas.org database

*bump*

http://pure-gas.org/

We've got nearly 600 stations in the database today, with many being added on a daily basis now. If you're heading out and like to fuel your bike with pure gas, grab the list for the states you'll be heading through. If you can load a POI CSV file into your GPS, download the POI file and you'll have them all in there (at least the ones with GPS data, so printing out the state-by-state lists is also prudent).

I try to clean up entries with missing GPS (usually vague or incomplete addresses) from time to time, so check back periodically. I'll try to do another cleaning round some time this week.

 

[osbornk]

I had my favorite pure gas station switch to ethanol over the weekend. It was 100% gas last week and it wasn't yesterday. I suspect many already listed are doing the same thing.

 

[The_Veg]

IMHO its only a matter of time before subsidies are cut and ethanol in its current form is history.

I'm not convinced. The corn-lobby is about as powerful as they come, and they've laughed all the way to the bank on ethanol.

Every station here Georgia has the 10% sticker on the pumps, presumably excepting those listed at PureGas. I passed one of them a couple of weeks ago, but I was way out of town and already had most of a tank on board.

BTW most of the pumps here are single-hose.

 

[Astrin]

I had my favorite pure gas station switch to ethanol over the weekend. It was 100% gas last week and it wasn't yesterday. I suspect many already listed are doing the same thing.

Sure, while others are being added to the list. I'm going to add a "Remove" function so folks can remove stations that no longer sell pure gas (but keep the record in the database so we can get some stats on it some day in the future). The database still has a tiny fraction of the stations out there that sell pure gas, and I hope that by the end of the year there will be over 1000 legit listings, including states and provinces beyond the current 33.

 

[Astrin]

pure-gas.org passes 1000 stations!

There are now over 1000 stations that serve ethanol-free pure gas listed on pure-gas.org. If you like to fuel your bike with pure gas, be sure to check it out, and post stations you know about that aren't listed. Thanks!

 

[rocketman]

While this might seem to be a laudable effort I wonder if it really has much value to the average motorcyclist on this forum or in general for that matter. While 1000 station may sound like a lot, given the total number of gas stations in the US, its an incredibly small percentage even if one was to lowball the total number of stations to say, 50,000, that would be only about .02 percent of available stations where one could find it. From what I could find a better estimate would be more like somewhere around 140,000 stations, so that brings the percentage down to something like .007 percent of stations selling “pure” gas. For either number though for the vast majority it’s probably way too far to travel to get it to make it either feasible or worthwhile. The other thing I note from looking at the list is that for the states I’m familiar with along the east coast namely MD, VA WV PA they seem to be located in more rural areas, so that further limits the number of riders who could take advantage of pure gas, an advantage that is debatable in and of itself, certainly for most modern engines at the very least. So again while it may well be a laudable effort, I just don’t see it as having much value for 99.5% of the riders out there. If you happen to be close to one, more power to you, but I’m certainly not going out of my (a rather long way I must add) to find it. I think this falls into the Nitrogen for tires catagory not worth the effort/cost/etc with questionable positive results given all the factors of finding it etc.
Now a price database, that would be something far more usefull IMHO.

RM

 

[cycleman2]

In Ontario, the Shell high test has no ethanol.

In Saskatchewan as well. It's a safe be that no 91 octane Shell Gas in Canada has ethanol.

 

[Daedalus214]

Recreation gas

Came across this thread and it triggered a memory from last year. I was traveling in Wisconsin (I think) and came across a station that had a separate pump for Recreation(al?) Gas that had no ethanol. I was surprised (pleasantly) by this and filled up (on fumes) at that pump (91 octane, I believe).

That tank of gas gave me much better mileage (~15%) than I had previously experienced with the bike. I looked for other Recreation Gas pumps but gave up after awhile, as I could not find them. It's tough to find those pumps here in the great state of Co...ehhhh, I mean Illinois.

 

[Astrin]

Came across this thread and it triggered a memory from last year. I was traveling in Wisconsin (I think) and came across a station that had a separate pump for Recreation(al?) Gas that had no ethanol. I was surprised (pleasantly) by this and filled up (on fumes) at that pump (91 octane, I believe).

That tank of gas gave me much better mileage (~15%) than I had previously experienced with the bike. I looked for other Recreation Gas pumps but gave up after awhile, as I could not find them. It's tough to find those pumps here in the great state of Co...ehhhh, I mean Illinois.

Yeah, Kwik Trip has pretty much universally tagged their ethanol-free 91 octane as "recreational gas" lately. It's sort of a marketing ploy, but I like it. Citgo recently dropped from 93 to 91, as well as Shell last year, so it's getting real hard to find 93 octane pure gas. However, last night I came across a Citgo in Evansville that had the usual 91 octane pure gas PLUS a dispenser of 110 octane "race fuel, for off-road use only." I don't think they mind if I spiked my tank with a little bit of it....