E85 experiment doesn’t prove cost effective

After a 60-day trial run this summer, the West Lafayette Police Department has decided to no longer fill half of its patrol fleet with E85.

In early June, officers with flex-fuel vehicles started purchasing the alternative fuel at the Family Express on Indiana 25 North, near Interstate 65. E85 was selling for about 99 cents less than a gallon of regular unleaded.


…”We decided to take a 60-day snapshot. Gas prices were fluctuating significantly at the time,” Dombkowski said. “At the end of the 60 days, gas was at a cheaper price point. The shakeout was even.”

Tim Bullis, director of Lafayette’s fleet maintenance, said the city of Lafayette also is no longer using E85. This summer, he added a conversion kit to a 2003 Chevrolet pickup truck to try out the alternative fuel.

A Lafayette patrol car and a commander’s car also tested E85 on a trial basis.

“We compared it by cost per mile,” Bullis said. “When regular unleaded and E85 were $1 apart, it was a tossup. The closer the prices became, the less effective the savings from E85.”

Journal and Courier (Indiana)