"New Tools Make Driving to the Windy City a Breeze"

By Rick Tolman
NCGA CEO

Last summer I chronicled the “Good, Bad and the Ugly” of E-85 pricing and availability on a road trip to and from St. Louis to the twin cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Recently I gave the new “Ethanol Corridor” a test run as I traveled from St. Louis to Chicago.

VeraSun and Ford have teamed up with the state of Illinois to promote the “Ethanol Corridor” concept. The corridor is touted to now extend from Chicago to Kansas City and claims that one can drive I-55 and I-70 between these cities and conveniently use E-85 the entire way. From my experience between St. Louis and Chicago, things have changed – and for the good!

The first big change is the search tool offered by MapQuest that allows drivers to easily find E-85 locations along a given route. There is also a very good mapping function to get you right to the location. I traveled I-55 and there were an impressive number of E-85 stations easily accessible to the highway.

Heading North From St. Louis
As I left St. Louis early Sunday morning I had a nearly empty tank, so I chose to fill up at an E-85 location just across the river in Collinsville, Ill. MapQuest easily directed me to Lowell’s Service Center, which was on I-55. Lowell’s is one of the E-85 stations that features VeraSun brand E-85.

Unlike oil company-franchised (Mobil, Shell, Exxon, BP, etc.) service stations, Lowell’s, as an independent, and is able to proudly advertise E-85 on its marquee signs and in clear pump labeling and promotional materials. The state-of-the-art pumps were easy to find and use.

While I was filling up a female customer driving a rented Chrysler sedan drove up and asked the attendant if she could use E-85. While there were no markings on the vehicle or its gas cap to indicate so, the attendant got reference materials and consulted her vehicle identification number and the owner’s manual to point out that her vehicle was indeed an FFV.

E-85 was selling for $2.59 a gallon while regular unleaded was $2.86.

Illinois is to be commended for its efforts on the Ethanol Corridor. Motorists can eaily see signs along I-55 exits indicating which gas stations are selling E-85 and biodiesel. At one rest stop on my return trip, I looked at the map on the wall to see how close I was to St. Louis. The map showed, both graphically and by list, the E-85 and biodiesel stations along I-55.

I deliberately filled up with regular unleaded 10 percent ethanol-blend gasoline for the return trip, so I could compare mileage between the two fuels. The fuel cost per mile for my trip using E-85 and regular gasoline was virtually identical, at approximately 18 cents per mile. The lower cost of E-85 made up for the difference in mileage.

My experience has made me a believer in the Ethanol Corridor. Kudos to all involved! Making a statement in support of cleaner air, the carbon balance and American energy security is now that much easier and more convenient.