FlexFuel Vehicle Promotion Targets Ethanol Infrastructure Growth

The rising price of gasoline is hard to avoid in Los Angeles, but owners of the more than 46,000 FlexFuel vehicles capable of running on E85 ethanol are about to get a break this Tuesday – paying only 85.9 cents a gallon for the cleaner, alternative fuel.

On February 26th from noon to 2:00 p.m., Conserv Fuel at 11699 San Vicente Blvd. in Brentwood will offer E85 ethanol for 85 cents a gallon.

And General Motors is paying the bill.

GM is sponsoring the promotion to help raise awareness about the first station in Los Angeles to offer E85 ethanol, and to encourage drivers of FlexFuel vehicles to use this cleaner, renewable fuel instead of gasoline.

“At GM, we believe the biofuel with the greatest potential to displace petroleum-based fuels and help reduce tailpipe carbon gas emissions in the United States is ethanol, and so we have made a major commitment to vehicles that can run on E85 ethanol,” said Susan Docherty, general manager of GM’s 16-state Western Region, which includes California.

With more than 2.5 million FlexFuel vehicles on the road today, GM is the automotive industry leader in producing vehicles that run on E85 ethanol. That number is expected to double by 2010, with annual production of E85-capable vehicles reaching 400,000. For the 2008 model year, GM offers 11 FlexFuel models, identifiable by FlexFuel exterior badging and yellow gasoline caps.