General Motors donated an E85 Ethanol-powered Chevrolet Tahoe to the Commonwealth of Virginia at a ceremony held Monday in Richmond to commemorate the opening of the first state-owned E85 fueling station. The donation kicks off a partnership between the auto manufacturing giant and the Commonwealth of Virginia to support the use of ethanol as an alternative fuel source, starting with state-owned vehicles.
The Virginia E85 Fueling Infrastructure Project aims to use state and federal money to build E85 fueling stations along Interstates 95 and 64, according to a press release from the Governor's Office.
The E85 blend consists of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. By converting all state vehicles to run on E85, the Commonwealth can reduce its petroleum consumption by 530,000 gallons a month, the release stated.
Ethanol is manufactured from domestically-produced corn and burns more cleanly than gasoline.
The use of ethanol reduces dependence on fossil fuels produced in other countries and also promotes domestic production of corn, which benefits the environment and the economy, said Governor's Office Press Secretary Kevin Hall.
The initiative is "part of a larger effort by Gov. Kaine to help the Commonwealth come up with a broader energy policy that promotes environmentally-friendly and domestically-produced energy sources," Hall said.
The Commonwealth is the 11th state to form a pro-ethanol partnership with General Motors since May 2005, according to GM's Washington, D.C. spokesman Greg Martin. The partnerships have "enabled us to locate and help build 170 new E85 fueling locations" in states from California to Florida, Martin said.
The Chevrolet Tahoe donated by General Motors is from the company's "Flex Fuel" line of vehicles, which can run on either gasoline or E85.
GM hopes the donation will "promote grassroots awareness of the availability of E85 ethanol as an alternative to regular gasoline," said GM spokesman David Barthmuss.
The company is introducing the Flex Fuel technology into many of its vehicles, although the introduction of these vehicles are outpacing the growth of E85 fueling stations.
"It is a chicken-and-the-egg problem right now with roughly 1,000 fueling stations nationwide," and around two million Flex Fuel vehicles on the road, Barthmuss said.
Barthmuss added that GM hopes these partnerships with individual states will help develop E85 infrastructure on a national scale to support the growing availability of Flex Fuel vehicles.
According to the release, the Commonwealth's first E85 fueling stations will initially service only state-owned vehicles, but the program will expand for private use as more stations are built.
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