Envirothink

Though admittedly I’m not a fan of ethanol, there’s a new development that bears noting.

A technology widely used in Brazil called “1HourFlex” will let any car run on any amount of gasoline or ethanol in less than 1 hour.

This conversion system – offered by a new company called Alkol - has 3 components:

• an Electronic Converter that alters fuel injector timing

• an Ignition Remapper which alters the spark plug firing time

• a Cold Start System which lets the engine start quickly on cold days (ethanol requires higher temperatures than gasoline to run properly).

Alkol's conerstion system turns cars into Flex Fuel vehicles

According to Alkol, installing the conversion system takes less than one hour (hence the name), creating a “flex vehicle” and can be done either by a professional or a handy consumer. Though the company sells individual components, their main focus is the complete system. 

Al Costa, CEO of Alkol, says converting a car to run properly on ethanol is not as simple as competitors try to make it look.

“Flexing a car improperly can lead to a number of problems: the engine failing when most needed, ridiculously high fuel consumption which basically nulls any savings you could get from the new fuel, fuel injectors clogging, even the fuel pump burning up. We focus on installing (what) the car will need to properly work without the customer having to do anything”.

Alkol’s system is fully automated, unlike their competition. Alkol has begun enering the U.S. market, pricing their system around $900 for an already-installed system. It plans to establish agreements with existing E85 fuel pumps around the country so the system can be installed and then fueled there.