Effects of Intermediate Ethanol Blends on Legacy Vehicles and Small Non‑Road Engines, Report 1 - Updated

In summer 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiated a test program to evaluate the potential impacts of intermediate ethanol blends on legacy vehicles and other engines. The purpose of the test program is to assess the viability of using intermediate blends as a contributor to meeting national goals in the use of renewable fuels. Through a wide range of experimental activities, DOE is evaluating the effects of E15 and E20--gasoline blended with 15 and 20% ethanol--on tailpipe and evaporative emissions, catalyst and engine durability, vehicle driveability, engine operability, and vehicle and engine materials. This first report provides the results available to date from the first stages of a much larger overall test program. Results from additional projects that are currently underway or in the planning stages are not included in this first report. The purpose of this initial study was to quickly investigate the effects of adding up to 20% ethanol to gasoline on the following: (1) Regulated tailpipe emissions for 13 popular late model vehicles on a drive cycle similar to real-world driving and 28 small non-road engines (SNREs) under certification or typical in use procedures. (2) Exhaust and catalyst temperatures of the same vehicles under more severe conditions. (3) Temperature of key engine components of the same SNREs under certification or typical in-use conditions. (4) Observable operational issues with either the vehicles or SNREs during the course of testing. As discussed in the concluding section of this report, a wide range of additional studies are underway or planned to consider the effects of intermediate ethanol blends on materials, emissions, durability, and driveability of vehicles, as well as impacts on a wider range of nonautomotive engines, including marine applications, snowmobiles, and motorcycles. Section 1 (Introduction) gives background on the test program and describes collaborations with industry and agencies to date. Section 2 (Experimental Setup) provides details concerning test fuels, vehicle and SNRE selection, and test methods used to conduct the studies presented in this report. Section 3 (Results and Discussion) summarizes the vehicle and SNRE studies and presents data from testing completed to date. Section 4 (Next Steps) describes planned future activities. The appendixes provide test procedure details, vehicle and SNRE emissions standards, analysis details, and additional data and tables from vehicle and SNRE tests