Ford, Minnesota Complete More Than 40 E-85 Stations in Twin Cities
Ford Motor Co. and a coalition of organizations in Minnesota have added more than 40 E-85 fueling stations in the Twin Cities to support clean air and the use of renewable fuels. The Minnesota project is the largest E-85 infrastructure program in the United States. Before the project began, only seven stations in Minnesota offered E-85. Today, 53 stations offer E-85 in Minnesota. The project aims to have 400 E-85 fueling sites available by 2002. The project provides financial support to independent station operators for installing E-85 refueling pumps or converting existing gasoline pumps. The average cost for installing an ethanol fuel pump is $40,000. E-85 can only be used in flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs), which are specially designed to operate on E-85, unleaded gasoline, or any combination of the two fuels in the same tank. More than 120,000 Taurus sedans in the 2000 model year and Ranger pickups with the 3.0-liter 2-valve engines are FFVs. In addition to the Taurus and Ranger, Ford plans to begin offering the flexible fuel option on its Explorer sport/utility vehicle. In model-year 2001, all Ford Explorer Sport models and SportTracs equipped with 4.0-liter V-6 engines as well as the 2002 Explorer 4-door will be FFVs.
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