Agriculture officials from Nebraska and two other states have decided to put more investment into the California ethanol-based fuel market.
The Nebraska Corn Board on Tuesday announced that it and corn checkoff organizations in Kansas and Missouri will provide California fuel retailers $1.25 million over the next year to increase availability of gasoline with an 85% ethanol blend, known commercially as E-85. The fuel will be supplied by Pearson Fuels, the largest E-85 distributor in California with nearly 250 retail stations located throughout the state.
It's the second investment in E-85 in the state by the Nebraska Corn Board, which earlier this year provided two grants to Pearson to pay for E-85 pumps at two gas stations in the Los Angeles area.
“These stations are moving a tremendous volume of E-85,†said John Greer, the Corn Board's District 2 Director. “One station alone would use about 50,000 bushels of corn in the form of ethanol in just a year. The investment is already proving worthwhile for our corn growers.â€
California is by far the largest E-85 market in the country, accounting for over 40 million gallons in 2020 and is on track to reach 50 million gallons in 2021. Despite that, it has fewer E-85 stations than either Iowa or Minnesota, which combined have less than one-fourth the population.
Also, more than 1 million people drive flex fuel vehicles in California, nearly three times as many as drive battery electric vehicles.
“The ceiling is high for E85,†Greer said, although he noted that both E-85 fueling stations and flex-fuel vehicles need to be made more widely available in the state.