According to alternative fuel advocates, the big oil companies are purposely trying to sabotage ethanol and any other alternative fuels that could threaten their profits. That includes just about every thing you have heard of except maybe hydrogen (which we'll get to in a minute).
According to Judy Dugan of the Huffington Post, supporters point to the contracts that the companies have with their pumping stations that makes it next to impossible for them to offer E85 ethanol. It is said that there are only about 1,000 stations selling ethanol in the U.S. and most of them are in the midwest (that's where the corn -- which ethanol is made from -- is producted).
This is despite the fact that the states appear to be committed to ethanol fleets. California, for example, has a fleet of General Motors flex fuel vehicles that run on ethanol. Problem is that there are no -- not one single pumping station -- that offers ethanol in the Sacramento area.
There are 6 million flex fuel vehicles on the roads of this country. The drivers of those cars can't find stations where they can buy the fuel.
Our take? We guess the country could create an independent infrastructure that could distribute ethanol. But why re-invent the wheel when the infrastructure is there -- the gas stations belonging to the big oil companies. Yet we can understand the latter's reluctance: who would, in their right mind, assist what amounts to be the competition? We're looking to see a major showdown between Big Oil and the government in the near future.
Unless it's hydrogen. Why? Huge industrial plants are necessary to produce it. And who has those plants? You guessed it, big oil, that's who.
No wonder the automakers are scrambling to make fuel cell cars.