Marathon drops E85 from racks, cites safety concerns

摘要

Marathon has suspended rack sales of E85, citing drivability and safety concerns with the fuel. The refiner dropped the product from its slate last month, company officials confirm.rn"While we have been selling E85 and ethanol for many years, we received word of [E85] studies concerning drivability and safety issues. Based on those recent reports, we decided to suspend those sales," said Marathon spokeswoman Angela Graves. She was uncertain how many Marathon racks offered E85, but OPIS data shows the product was available in 40 cities as of July.rnAlthough she couldn't recall specific details, Graves cited a July report from the Coordinating Research Council (CRC) as one of the studies that lead Marathon to its decision. That report investigated cold-start and warm-up drivability of 20 flexible fuel vehicles with E75 and E85, with varying vapor pressure and hydrocarbon contents, and compared their performance to hydrocarbon gasoline. The report found that cold-start and warm-up drivability improved with increasing ambient temperature, increasing vapor pressure and increasing hydrocarbon content.