The Renewable Fuels Association’s flex fuel plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (FFPHEV) worked hard in 2023, so just ahead of the 2024 National Ethanol Conference in California last month, RFA’s Robert White decided to take it along on a family vacation as he drove from Kansas City to San Diego.
White, who serves as RFA Senior Vice President for Industry Relations and Market Development, shared his family vacation travel log on the RFA Blog, starting off with “a full charge and a full tank of E85 fresh off of a Super Bowl victory by our Kansas City Chiefs.”
White details what happened on their first night stop and charge at a Holiday Inn Express:
I awoke to a surprise on my phone. What started off as free charging somehow changed in the middle of the night. I was notified in the middle of the night that once charging was complete the charge would be five dollars an hour if I didn’t move the vehicle! I had the only electric vehicle at this hotel and was not expecting this at all. It was still too early to sneak out to unplug the car without waking up my family. I decided that a well-rested family is probably worth more than a few five-dollar bills. But once the family finally stirred, I was on the hook for $32 in “non-movement” charges. The car was ready to go on 29 miles of charge. Wow! That means for electricity it would cost $1.10/mile. There were plenty of options for E85 in the area, and we filled for just over $2/gallon. That translates to just $.05/mile. Using E85 would save us over $1/mile.
Read White’s entire blog post here
White shared some of his experiences and the data he has developed from using the FFPHEV over the past year during the National Ethanol Conference panel on “Ethanol and Electricity: The Best of Both Worlds.”
White says when people in the industry ask him how to convince people not to buy EVs he has a simple answer. “Let them drive one. That’s how you convince the world that it’s a problem.”
Joining him on the panel were Brian West, Chief Automotive Engineer, West Energy and Environment and Tom Leone, Principal Engineer, Southwest Research Institute.
Listen to them here:
NEC24 Ethanol and Electricity panel 37:53
2024 National Ethanol Conference Preview Activities Photo Album