It was the large “Powered by Ethanol” stickers on the flanks of my Impala tester that spurred me on, sending me on a mission to find the corn- based alternative fuel source and fulfill the carmaker’s bold claims. Domestic automakers like General Motors have been quick to provide “FlexFuel” vehicles, which can operate on E85, a blend of 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent gasoline - quicker off the mark, in fact, than the imports. GM alone claims to have put more than 2 million FlexFuel vehicles on the road so far. The thinking is, the more ethanol your vehicle can run on, the less fossil fuel it will require, ultimately reducing dependence (at least in the U.S.) on imported oil. Part of the U.S. enthusiasm for E85 doubtless lies in the fact that ethanol, which is a form of grain alcohol, is produced primarily from corn - a popular crop in North America, with all of its social and political implications. Read the rest of this entry »