WATERLOO -- Gasoline prices are still hovering near record highs, causing many consumers to turn to alternative energy vehicles in the 2008 model year.

But even with the media and political attention ethanol has stirred up in recent years, local dealers do not believe flex-fuel badges are responsible for moving cars and trucks off their lots.

Flex-fuel vehicles are those that can be filled with either regular unleaded gasoline or E85 -- a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Ethanol is an alcohol created through the fermentation of sugars, such as corn and sugar cane. Because it comes from a renewable source, ethanol and ethanol blended fuel is considered to be more environmentally than gasoline alone.

Demand for ethanol has been on the rise in recent years, and the increasing price of corn has reflected this trend. However, in the Cedar Valley, this increase in demand has not translated into an increase in the sale of cars that can utilize E85.

"We have a few people a week come in and ask about flex-fuel vehicles," said Scott McCurdey, new car sales manager with Dan Deery Motor Company in Cedar Falls. "But they don't tend to realize how few E85 pumps there are in the area."

In fact, the Cedar Valley has just one public E85 pump, located at the East Central Iowa Cooperative (ECIC) in Hudson. Government vehicles have access to an E85 pump at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, but it is not open to the public.

"I don't think flex-fuel even passes through someone's head when they are buying a vehicle around here," said Dennis Maas, general manager of the ECIC.

There is no doubt more E85-compatible vehicles are leaving dealers' lots, but it is mostly a coincidence said Matt Halbur, sales manager at Rydell Chevrolet in Waterloo. Auto companies such as GM and Chrysler are producing more vehicles each year, which inevitably leads to more people owning them.

"The question is how many people ever actually fill up with E85," said Halbur.

Along with the issue of finding a pump, those wishing to fill up with E85 usually have to deal with a decrease in fuel economy. The National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition estimates an average drop in miles per gallon of 10 to 15 percent when using E85 versus regular unleaded, though it can vary greatly from model to model.

Typically E85 is offered at a lower price than standard gasoline, but the cost savings is not always enough to counter the lost fuel efficiency.

"Let's say your car gets 25 percent less miles per gallon on E85," explained Maas. "If regular unleaded was $2.80 per gallon, E85 would have to be $2.10 per gallon to offset the fuel economy."

Wednesday the price of E85 at the ECIC in Hudson was $2.01, or 23 percent cheaper than the $2.61 the ECIC was charging for regular unleaded.

In the Cedar Valley, residents also have to consider the cost of driving to Hudson to fill up. From the center of Waterloo, a round-trip journey to the ECIC is nearly 18 miles long, while a round trip from the center of Cedar Falls is nearly 20 miles. That trip can easily devour a gallon of E85 in most flex-fuel vehicles.

Flex-fuel vehicles are among three powerhouses in the alternative fuel battle for supremacy. The other two are hybrid vehicles and diesel vehicles.

Hybrid vehicles, those which usually use gasoline in combination with an electric engine to gain fuel economy or add performance, have experienced increased sales across the country. The Midwest showed the biggest gains, as a recent report by R.L. Polk & Company showed hybrid sales increased 56.9 percent for the first seven months of 2007 compared to the same time frame in 2006. But Halbur said people typically pay a premium for hybrid engines, and may not ever make up that price difference at the pumps.

Diesel engines are similar to conventional petrol engines, except that they use a compression ignition rather than having the air-fuel composition ignited by a spark plug. Diesel engines typically get better gas mileage than their petrol counterparts, but the price of diesel varies independently from unleaded, and can either cost more or less at any point in time.

Although very few passenger models are available in the United States, McCurdey believes diesel will win the alternative fuel battle in the future. Many new diesel models will be available in 2009, said McCurdey. Europe adopted diesel automobiles long ago amid high gasoline prices, and now nearly half of the cars sold in Europe are powered by diesel engines.

More information on alternative fuel vehicles can be found at www.fueleconomy.gov.

Contact Drew Andersen at (319) 291-1418 or drew.andersen@wcfcourier.com.