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Ford has placed more than 2 million flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs) on American roads. The company's current lineup of FFVs includes the Ford F-150, Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln Town Car.

Last year, Ford, along with General Motors and DaimlerChrysler, pledged to double annual production of vehicles capable of running on renewable fuels by 2010. The automakers renewed a commitment this spring to make half of their annual vehicle production capable of running on alternative fuels by 2012. Key to that commitment, however, is the need for an adequate distribution network for ethanol or E85, a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

"Not only does E85 access have to be convenient to customers, it has to be at a price point that provides value," said Curtis Magleby, director, State and Local Governmental Affairs.

Magleby says there are approximately 1,200 ethanol fueling stations operating in the United States today. Most are concentrated in the Midwest. Compared to the nearly 170,000 retail gasoline stations in business nationally, the need for additional ethanol availability is clear.

At least 10 to 20 percent of the fueling locations would need to have E85 available to really begin to have true customer access, according to Magleby, who added accessibility is only part of the challenge. The government needs to make E85 production more attractive for energy producers, he said.

"Governmental and business policies in place today actually provide greater financial incentives to those producing lower-level ethanol fuel blends (E10 which is 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline). The result is there is no business equation for many of the major refiners or retailers to produce or sell E85. That has to change," said Magleby.

"Ethanol has lower energy level content than gasoline. E85 needs to be discounted at least 20 percent under gasoline to provide value to customers," he added.

Ford entered into a unique E85 partnership last year with VeraSun Energy Corporation and MFA Oil to create the Midwest Ethanol Corridor. The goal was to provide flexible-fuel vehicle owners the ability to drive between Chicago and Kansas City, fueled exclusively by E85, while educating consumers about the benefits of ethanol in the process.

"I think the automakers, and Ford in particular, have stepped up and shown leadership on this issue," said Bill Honnef, senior vice president, VeraSun. "This effort was a first for the industry, in that Ford went from simply producing flexible fuel vehicles to proactively looking to expand the E85 infrastructure. As a result, the ethanol industry is expanding at a record pace."

Honnef estimates that ethanol production in the U.S. will reach a capacity of 14 billion gallons, or roughly one-tenth the annual consumption of gasoline by American motorists (140 billion gallons), within the next five years.

"Right now, America has no alternative fuel option; we're dependent on gasoline for transportation. Our challenge is to get the ethanol infrastructure in place to match expected growth of production to suport E85 sales," said Magleby. "For every penny increase in the cost of a gallon of gasoline today, it is a cost to the American consumers of $1.3 billion."

Perhaps the best example of an effective ethanol solution today can be found in Brazil, where more than two-thirds of the vehicles sold are already flex-fuel capable, including the ability to run on pure ethanol, known as E100.

"About 10 years ago, the Brazilian government incentivized their farmers to grow more sugar cane, which they convert to ethanol, with the hope of reducing their dependency on foreign oil," said Hau Thai-Tang, product development director for Ford South America Operations (FSAO).

"As market demands influence pricing, customers can switch from 100 percent gasoline to 100 percent ethanol, or any blends in between, including E85. It gives the consumer a lot of flexibility."

Thai-Tang says Ford has been a pioneer in delivering several flexible-fuel products to the Brazilian marketplace, including the Fiesta, Focus and EcoSport mini SUV. He adds that the company's South American experience will benefit future product development plans in North America.

"We view ourselves as being the center of excellence within the Ford community for doing flex fuel and ethanol vehicles," Thai-Tang said. "Every opportunity we have to share those learnings moving forward, we'll take advantage of."

Today ethanol is primarily produced from corn, but Magleby says that may change.

"Work is being done to accelerate the transition toward a broader array of biomass feedstocks, as an increasingly important part of sustainability and greenhouse gas production," he said.

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