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Ford's portfolio approach to sustainable mobility offers a large range of fuel-efficient engines and alternative-fuel vehicles - including EcoBoost®, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, flexible fuel, battery-electric, B20 biodiesel and compressed natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas (CNG/LPG) vehicles. The Ford Fleet Purchase Planner has been developed to assist fleet customers in comparing these alternatives and understanding which vehicles offer the optimal mix to achieve CO₂ emission reductions while balancing corporate financial goals. Vehicle fleets for large corporations can have thousands of vehicles that are replaced on a timescale of months to years. We present the three main components of the Fleet Purchase Planner (patent pending) that provide fleet customers the lowest cost solution to achieving their sustainability goals: the Vehicle Emissions & Fuel Cost Calculator, the Fleet CO₂ Emissions Footprint Status Calculator, and the Purchase Recommender.

This paper provides an overview of the effects of blending ethanol with gasoline for use in spark ignition engines. The overview is written from the perspective of considering a future ethanol-gasoline blend for use in vehicles that have been designed to accommodate such a fuel. Therefore discussion of the effects of ethanol-gasoline blends on older legacy vehicles is not included. As background, highlights of future emissions regulations are discussed. The effects on fuel properties of blending ethanol and gasoline are described. The substantial increase in knock resistance and full load performance associated with the addition of ethanol to gasoline is illustrated with example data. Aspects of fuel efficiency enabled by increased ethanol content are reviewed, including downsizing and downspeeding opportunities, increased compression ratio, fundamental effects associated with ethanol combustion, and reduced enrichment requirement at high speed/high load conditions.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 established a new Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) requiring increased biofuel use (through 2022) and greater fuel economy (through 2030) for the US light-duty vehicle (LDV) fleet. Ethanol from corn and cellulose is expected to supply most of the biofuel and be used in blends with gasoline. A model was developed to assess the potential impact of these mandates on the US LDV fleet. Sensitivity to assumptions regarding future diesel prevalence, fuel economy, ethanol supply, ethanol blending options, availability of flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs), and extent of E85 use was assessed. With no E85 use, we estimate that the national-average ethanol blend level would need to rise from E5 in 2007 to approximately E10 in 2012 and E24 in 2022. Nearly all (97%) US gasoline LDVs were not designed to operate with blends greater than E10. FFVs are designed to use ethanol blends up to E85 but comprise only 3% of the fleet.