Originally Posted by TopgunZ

A huge percentage of engine failure, maybe high 90s even, is due to detonation. E85s resistance to this is incredible. You could have a car pushing 350whp and detonating like crazy and the engine will let go. Or take the same car with 650whp and zero det and it will last years.

This is the benefit of E. You can turn up the boost and power and not pick up any detonation therefore creating more power safely. However, if it ever does detonate at those power levels then you have much more energy that needs to go somewhere, usually into the rod.

Ethanols latent heat of vaporization is also 2.5 times higher than that of gas. This means it pulls 2.5 times as much heat out of the intake charge therefore creating a safer environment for higher combustion.

Also, the 30% more fuel you dump into the cylinder washes the walls with more fuel and wards off hot spots.

It does have a much slower burn.



E85 is king in boosted applications.