Automotive Expert and Car-Talk Host Bobby Likis Challenges Statements...

Responding to a AAA article appearing today in USA Today, veteran automotive industry expert Bobby Likis – whose 41-year career in automotive service as a technician, rear-engine dragster builder and owner of an award-winning automotive service center – overheats.

Likis launches, “Let's get right to it. Underinformation is dangerous, and misinformation is perilous. I’m both surprised and disappointed in the entire premise of the AAA E-15 article in USA Today. In the 41 years I have been – and still am – hands-on in the diagnosis, service and repair of cars, I find the repeating of an already dispelled myth that E15 ruins engines distasteful and contrary to the results found in extensive EPA and university studies, as well as in my first-hand experience with over 175,000 cars that have rolled through my service shop. In 41 years, we have not diagnosed a single 'ruined' engine due to ethanol."

Ethanol with its 35% oxygen content per molecule results in more efficient engine system operations from the tops of pistons to the valves to the exhaust with an added benefit of fewer emissions. With its octane rating of 113, pure ethanol added to gasoline as an enabler allows extreme cylinder pressures and temperatures, making small engines run cleaner and behave more like larger engines, producing more horsepower and torque. In addition, cooler-running ethanol – when combined with direct-injection and EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) - allows controlled, extreme cylinder pressure, resulting in an increased power-density factor – or horsepower per liter – and increased mpg.

In addition, ethanol is enhances the "sweet spot" – the intersection of maximum torque (or power) and minimum revolutions per minute (rpm). Ethanol moves the sweet spot to the left on the torque/rpm curve so that more torque is produced with fewer rpm’s. Since rpm’s are what "eat" fuel, fewer rpm’s mean less fuel usage and more mpg.

Engines have been designed to run on ethanol-blended gasoline (E10) since the '80's. Now, to meet federally mandatated CAFE standards that require a fleet average of 54.5 mpg by 2025, automakers are designing engines to optimize a variety of ethanol-blends.

About Bobby Likis:

Likis is the only car-talk host on commercial multi-media platforms named for five consecutive years to the “Talkers 250,” the prestigious list of the top 250 talk-show hosts in America. For more information about automotive expert Bobby Likis and the Car Clinic Network, visit CarClinicNetwork.com. For details about Bobby Likis’s award-winning, 41-year successful automotive service shop, visit CarClinicService.com. Join Bobby on Facebook at Facebook.com/BobbyLikis; on Twitter at Twitter.com/BobbyLikis; and on YouTube at YouTube.com/BobbyLikis.

About Bobby Likis Car Clinic:

“Bobby Likis Car Clinic” is the largest car-talk program/network on commercial radio, multiple web audiocasts, live video webcast (WatchBobbyLive.com), podcasts (including iTunes), iPhone, chat room, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, American Forces Radio Network & television. Car Clinic can be heard and seen on Saturdays, 10a-12n ET, live at WatchBobbyLive.com.

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