The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that it would temporarily allow widespread sales of a higher ethanol gas blend in a move that they hope will tamp down consumer prices that have soared since the Iran war began.
The sale of E15 is typically discontinued in the summer because it can contribute to harmful air pollution.
Not all are convinced the move will substantially lower gas prices. E15 isn’t available in all states and some places don’t have the necessary infrastructure or enough of a supply of ethanol to ramp up use, said Kenneth Gillingham, a professor at the Yale School of the Environment who studies the impacts of transportation regulations on prices, emissions and consumer welfare.
I’m referring to the market of people who can already afford one, but choose not to because of various reasons like range, charging speed, politics, charging availability, etc. I never said the only reason they’re unattractive is anything specific. But anything that helps them get in the mainstream consciousness will eventually help things like mass production, research, and market share, which will also help price and overall technology improvement speed. $5k electric cars may come in the future but nothing relating to ethanol in gas will directly cause those to appear and before that happens EVs in general need to become more accepted and more adopted.