News Highlights

MnCAR to test E-85 conversion kits

Governor's blessing

Gov. Tim Pawlenty has given the go-ahead to Minnesota State Mankato MnCAR Director Bruce Jones to test conversion kits that allow ordinary cars to run on E-85.

2006-09-22
By Conrad deFiebre, Star Tribune staff writer [published in the Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN, 8/5/2006]

A state university researcher's plan to test ethanol-fuel conversion kits for cars got a blessing Friday from Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who touted the project as a step toward U.S. independence from foreign oil.

The devices currently are illegal to use in the United States, but Pawlenty has urged the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to speed up efforts to certify them.

In a news release from the governor's office, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson was quoted as describing the researchers at Minnesota State University, Mankato, as "partners" with President Bush and the EPA in "moving alternative energy breakthroughs like E-85 from the labs to the streets."

No new state or federal funding will support the work at the university's Center for Automotive Research, director Bruce Jones said at a State Capitol news conference with the governor and Agriculture Commissioner Gene Hugoson. Testing will rely on "cheap labor" from students and leftover grant money, Jones said.

Specifically, the center will test Flextek conversion kits sold for $700 to $1,500 by the Fuel Man of Ridgeville Corners, Ohio, Jones said. The devices are designed to allow ordinary cars to run on a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline as well as the standard Minnesota formula of 90 percent gas and 10 percent ethanol.

Whether the research will lead to EPA certification remains uncertain. The agency still has concerns over emissions and performance of cars fitted with the conversion kits, Pawlenty said. But, he added, "they work, we believe."

With most ethanol brewed from corn, a leading Minnesota cash crop, the state has promoted the homegrown fuel since the mid-1990s with producer subsidies and blending mandates. The state is home to half the nation's 500 E-85 retail pumps and 140,000 factory-produced flexible fuel vehicles that can run on E-85.

For more information on Flextek, go to www.flextek.com.

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