The Development and Performance of a High Blend Ethanol Fueled Vehicle

A 1999 Chevrolet Silverado truck was converted to operate on E85 (a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline). The vehicle design was centered around four primary customer driven goals: maintaining or exceeding the performance of the current gasoline fueled vehicle, improving emissions, constructing a system that can be easily and economically integrated into production, and finally making this system invisible to the operator.

Ethanol is a good choice for an alternative fuel, however it has some drawbacks. High ethanol blend fuels can provide lower exhaust and evaporative emissions, higher power, and higher efficiency than engines operating on gasoline. However, cold startability and material compatibility issues must be addressed. This paper describes the design modifications and performance changes resulting from the conversion to dedicated, high ethanol blend fuel operation.