Cars On Alcohol, Part 8: Alternate Fuel Filling Stations
By Green Car Journal Editors
It seemed that M85 methanol fueling was about to get a huge boost in late 1993 with an array of M85 pumps coming to selected Super Kmart Centers across the United States. At least that was the plan by a joint venture formed by Metallgesellschaft, Castle Energy, and Thornton Oil Corp. At the same time, the then-“Big 3” U.S. automakers were sharing their plans for flexible-fuel vehicles through 1997, even as they were expressing concerns about methanol’s suitability and availability. The reports that follow are reprinted just as they ran in the early 1990s to provide a sense of how activities then have led to the alcohol flexible-fuel vehicles on the road today.
M85 PUMPS COMING TO KMART CENTERS
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED OCTOBER 1993 Selected Super Kmart Center sites across the U.S. will soon offer alternative fuels because of a newly-formed joint venture by Metallgesellschaft (New York, N.Y.), Castle Energy (Blue Bell, Penn.), and Thornton Oil Corp. (Louisville, Ky.). The three have signed a letter of intent that will see Metallgesellschaft (MG) supplying gasoline sourced from Castle to the service stations, with Thornton developing and managing the stations at the Super Kmart facilities. The stations will offer both reformulated natural gas (RNG) and methanol M85 for flexible-fuel vehicles.
RNG will be supplied by RNG Corp., a joint venture between MG and Methanex (Vancouver, Canada), the world’s largest methanol company. MG, which owns 49% of Castle, currently delivers about 300,000 barrels per day of refined products to its customers. Thornton owns and operates more than 100 combination gasoline stations and convenience stores in the Midwest U>S. and operates five stations at existing Kmart locations. This new effort intends to develop an additional 15 stations during its first phase, with “significant expansion” planned for phase two.
METHANOL PLANS THROUGH 1997
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED DECEMBER 1993 The Big 3 U.S. automakers appear to be taking a go-slow approach to methanol/gasoline powered flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs), according to a summary of meetings held between the car companies and members of the Canadian Oxygenated Fuels Association (COFA).  At the meetings, held in October, all three automakers expressed serious reservations about methanol, both in terms of its suitability and issues regarding its availability.
In separate meetings with each manufacturer, representatives from the association heard automakers ask for more help in R&D, marketing, and infrastructure. In the area of R&D, Chrysler representatives expressed their belief that the methanol industry should fund the necessary research into issues of cold starts, engine durability, fuel quality, and misfueling. Ford echoed those concerns and requested that methanol interests assist in marketing the automakers’ vehicles, and ensure that a fueling infrastructure is in place when the cars are ready. GM also asked for such support, and requested that the association work to encourage all manufacturers to sell methanol vehicles—which was a little surprising given that GM has the least aggressive methanol vehicle product plans of all the Big 3.
With regard to specific product plans, the meetings revealed the following: In 1994, Chrysler will sell a methanol-powered version of its Spirit/Acclaim compact car and a 49-state (not Calif.) Intrepid. Both FFV models will be built to order. In 1995, Chrysler will have the methanol Intrepid available in California as well. Chrysler said it is prepared to build up to 2,000 Intrepids on a batch basis.
Ford will produce 2,000 methanol Taurus examples in 1994 and 1995. Ford also said it will build an FFV version of its next-generation 1996 Taurus if industry, fuel quality, and infrastructure issues are resolved. The automaker says it would take a market demand of 30,000 per year for the company to start new methanol production development, and 200,000 a year for it to begin a “from-scratch” methanol project.
General Motors is no longer producing the variable-fuel Chevrolet Lumina and has no short term plans to build a methanol FFV. The automaker is planning to develop a methanol version of a new 2.2-liter, four-cylinder engine to be used in a compact car and light truck in the 1997 model year, however.
COFA is concerned that automakers don’t appear to be prepared to meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ILEV (inherently low emission vehicle) standard with methanol-powered vehicles. The ILEV standard integrates both stringent exhaust and evaporative requirements which are expected to preclude the use of both gasoline products and even M85, leaving only dedicated alternative fuel vehicles to meet the requirement. It’s expected that ILEV standards will begin with the federal fleet.
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