The Village Grocery on Main Street in Waitsfield used to have a Mobil station out front. Now, it’s been converted to an independently owned station that sells ethanol-free premium gas.
Troy Kingsbury, the owner of the station and store, made the switch to ethanol-free gas last year. According to Kingsbury, ethanol gas, the only product sold at large chain gas stations across the country, “was never really intended to be put into vehicles,” as it essentially dries out a car’s engine.
While 91-octane ethanol-free gas is about the same price as 93-octane gas containing ethanol, ethanol-free gas is ultimately more efficient. “If you ask anyone that uses ethanol-free gas, [they get] better performance and better power [from their cars],” Kingsbury said, citing a customer who drives a 2011 Toyota Prius and has gotten 10 percent better gas mileage since she switched to using ethanol-free gas.
Ethanol gas was first created because it used surplus materials from food as a cost-effective additive, but Kingsbury questions this method now that food costs are going up as a result, “which again is driving up our oil costs,” he said. “It’s a cycle.”
Now, when looking for fuel additives, “we should be thinking outside the box, rather than using our food source,” Kingsbury said. Unfortunately, not all companies are concerned with how their product affects other markets, and large chain gas stations are actually not allowed to offer ethanol-free options. “It’s big corporation, big money politics,” Kingsbury said, implying that this refusal to offer ethanol-free gas just doesn’t make sense.
What reflects a problem with the country’s overall approach to energy use, however, could present an opportunity for smaller companies that can offer this increasingly popular product. Switching to ethanol-free gas “will help the little independent mom-and-pop gas stations compete with the big guys,” Kingsbury said.
A customer emerged from Kingsbury’s store, clutching a small, paper-wrapped package. “I hope this sausage is ethanol-free,” he joked.
“I can guarantee it is,” Kingsbury replied with a smile.
(A list of gas stations across the country that offer ethanol-free gas is available online at pure-gas.org.)
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