ACE Hybrid Electric Flex Fuel Vehicle Update

American Coalition for Ethanol members got an update on the ACE Hybrid Electric Flex Fuel (HEFF) vehicle during the annual conference last week, two years after the public unveiling at the 2021 annual conference, also held in Minneapolis.

ACE’s Chief Marketing Officer Ron Lamberty shared updated stats over the first two years of driving the 2019 Ford Fusion standard hybrid, made flex fuel capable courtesy of California E85 wholesaler Pearson Fuels and an eflexfuel.com conversion kit. Lamberty said ACE’s project “reminds everyone a battery isn’t a fuel source, it’s a fuel tank, and to reduce carbon pollution, you fill a vehicle’s ‘tank’ with the cleanest fuel available, which is currently E85.”

Ron Lamberty fills up HEFF with E85 during a road trip in June

Lamberty records miles driven, gallons, price and ethanol content of every fuel purchase, and calculating E10 use and cost, based on a benchmark set driving 4,500 miles on E10. After two years of running HEFF just under 25,000 miles on fuel averaging 71 percent ethanol, using EPA’s highest ethanol lifecycle GHG estimates and real-world mileage performance, the vehicle emitted approximately 202 grams of CO2 per mile – comparable to 2019 Tesla numbers when adjusted for actual range as opposed to showroom sticker values, and less than half the emissions from the gas version of the Fusion. The eflexfuel converter limited BTU mileage loss to 19.7 percent, and when using that figure versus the EPA original window sticker estimates for the car, and the lowest CI E85 currently available, ACE’s hybrid electric flex fuel vehicle would emit 108 grams of CO2 per mile. While fuel cost was not a primary concern of the HEFF project, the total fuel cost of the E71 used to date has been $2,500 compared to $2,719 for E10 regular gas, a savings of about 9/10ths of a cent per mile driven.

Lamberty provides the update in his conference remarks.
2023 ACE - Ron Lamberty, ACE, remarks 15:58

2023 ACE Conference photo album