Ethanol can be even more efficient than gasoline with the right engine, and Saab has the engine. According to Mobile Magazine, the 9-5 2.3t BioPower engine runs better on E85 than it does on regular gasoline – 210 bhp compared to 185 bhp. Earlier stories about the BioPower engine, such as this one in Popular Science, say it’s 184 horsepower on ethanol and 148 with gasoline. Pretty good either way. However, Saab currently only has plans to sell cars with the BioPower engine in Europe.

The engine will clearly give the E85 cause a boost, but only in Europe for now. It will appear there in the 2007 model year later this year, but there are no public plans to bring it to the United States.