What's GM reason for not providing Flex Fuel for LT1 cars?

[Burly]

Was it cost, political, EPA regulations or some other reason? Would love to hear an official reason from GM on why.

[DGthe3]

My guess is that it comes down to lack of demand. Most E85 stations are in the midwest, near the corn that its made with. The 4 largest markets for Camaros (in no particular order) are Texas, California, Florida, and New York. I bet its similar for the Corvette.

And remember, each year with both the Camaro and Corvette there are only between 50 and 100 thousand LT1 cars sold each year, total. Thats not that many. So the added cost of developing the extra fuel tables and what not would get spread a lot thicker than on the V8 pickups.

Plus, one of the biggest reasons for flex fuel is to save money on gas. A fairly large percentage of Camaro SS's are not driven every day. They might be weekend toys, or get put away for the winter in colder climates. That makes saving money on fuel a pretty low priority for Camaro buyers. And that would hold truer for Corvettes (not to mention, if you're buying a $60k+ Corvette how concerned are you really going to be about money spent on gas?).


But this is all just my own guessing. I have no idea what GM's actual reasoning is. I doubt many outside of GM would know that.

[DSX Tuning]

I asked the head of the Z28 program this exact question at PRI. He said it had to do with dynamic range of the fuel systems in stock form versus cost and anticipated demand. They didn't deem it worth the money.

[ChefBorOzzy]

My truck runs on e85.. The mileage hit is not worth the price difference. Perhaps you're just looking for the performance aspect?

[1Coopgt]

It's not just the V8 Camaros. The V6 isn't a flex fuel car either .

[h422694]

I live in the mid west, just outside & SW of Kansas City outer belt. Several refineries in area as well as a lot of oil line transmission lines that serve the mid west. There are only 3 stations that have E85 in a 30-40 mile radius and only 44 in the state. If this is an indication of 'majority' there are sure not many.

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by h422694

I live in the mid west, just outside & SW of Kansas City outer belt. Several refineries in area as well as a lot of oil line transmission lines that serve the mid west. There are only 3 stations that have E85 in a 30-40 mile radius and only 44 in the state. If this is an indication of 'majority' there are sure not many.

Just because they aren't on every single street corner doesn't mean the majority aren't still in the midwest. There are something like 170,000 gas stations in the United States. Less than 3000 sell E85.

Here is the best E85 map that I could find. And the bulk of them are in the midwest with a handful covering other markets:


(source: https://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/et...locations.html)

So while Kansas is (surprisingly) sparse (ditto with Nebraska), go a bit north and east and it becomes a lot more common. Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan have the bulk of the stations.