GM pushing for more E85 pumps

General Motors is spending $100 million each year to build vehicles flexible enough to run on E85 fuel — yet most drivers don’t live near a gas station that sells the ethanol-gasoline blend, a top company executive said Monday.

Tom Stephens, General Motors vice chairman for global product development, is calling for more E85 pumps across the country. He said the nation needs to add 10,000 ethanol pumps to the roughly 2,000 already in place.

“I think it would be very helpful if we could get government assistance. But I really want the oil industry, I want the people who are at this conference, I want the government and I want us to just work together to make ethanol a reality," Stephens told reporters at the Renewable Fuels Association’s National Ethanol Conference in Orlando. Stephens was slated to speak Tuesday at the convention.

GM expects that over half of the vehicles it makes by 2012 and beyond will be able to run on E85, which is a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline.

Stephens said two-thirds of the E85 stations are located in 10 states that have just 19% of the flex-fuel vehicles on the road. About 90% of registered flex-fuel vehicles are in zip codes without an E85 station, according to GM. Detroit Free Press