I can do the math, thank you. I can read too.
Did you notice the language towards the bottom of page 3 - 1 where it says "Fuel economy decreased (7.7% on average), consistent with the energy density reduction associated with ethanol blending (in limited tests, this trend was observed to continue to E30)."
Notice the words "on average", as in across all of the vehicles ranging from 1999 to 2007 and almost all of which are 4 or 6 cylinder small and mid-size cars. Of the 16 vehicles tested, only TWO are V8 pickups. Both 1/2 ton units with small V8's. Some were then better and some were worse, I'm guessing the older and bigger engines were MUCH worse.
As for your "alkie" comment, the ~15% reduction I stated should have been explained, it it is 10% for the blended value and other parasitic losses that add another 5% in 'the real world' and of course it incorporates the energy value of the Ethanol.
The other parasitic losses include things like water ('alkie' is very hygroscopic and contains a lot of water by volume which has no energy and reduces the energy produced), reduced performance because of ECM 'adjustments' to try to correct the mixture, etc., and few vehicles are properly tuned, clean and performing perfectly.
Further to all of that, the vehicles we are talking about here, maxed out TV's and M/H's are running hot, under heavy throttle and not exactly peaking on the efficiency scale.
Finally, that test, is just that, a TEST, under perfect conditions, using perfect lab-grade fuels and likely vehicles that have been 'gone over', no ugly plugs, dirty air cleaners, etc., etc.
Speaking of doing the math, lets say you take a car that gets 24 MPG and drive it 1,000 miles on E0 fuel, total gas burned 41.67 gallons.
Then you take the same car and drive that 1,000 miles on E15 gasoline, but it losses 15% on the mileage so now it only gets 20.4 MPG, total fuel burned is now 49.02 gallons, 85% of which is gasoline, or 41.67 gallons.
In both cases you burned 41.67 gallons, except with the E15 fuel you ALSO burned an additional 7.35 gallons of Ethanol on top.
So then you've actually burned more fuel and created more pollution than you did before we had this "new improved, less polluting gasoline".
Oh, and we've spent a lot more on fuel and food costs along the way.
Government logic at it's finest.
