I was a bit too critical of the Obvio! mini-car from Brazil for having less than spectacular gas mileage. The numbers I mentioned are actually for ethanol, which has a lower specific energy density (technically, the amount of oomph per kilogram of fuel) than gasoline. The Obvio! web site estimates mileage would be about 10 per cent better on gasoline. The Consumer’s Union study of ethanol found an even bigger disparity in gas mileage between gasoline and E85, an 85 per cent ethanol, 15 per cent gasoline mix. So the Obvio! might inch up toward the 50 mpg range on the highway running on good old petroleum.

The reason this Brazilian car is geared towards ethanol is because sugar cane ethanol is a bumper crop in Brazil (see here, for example). Here in the United States the government is offering incentives for corn-derived ethanol, and that is what is used in the E85 blends. However, it takes more energy to get a gallon of ethanol from corn than it does from sugar cane. To maintain support for the corn-ethanol industry, the United States imposes a hefty tarif on Brazil’s sugar cane ethanol, preventing it from becoming an economically viable export to this country. Meanwhile, following an aggressive government policy mandating ethanol use in Brazil, it now accounts for 20% of their fuel, and their gasoline usage has actually declined in the last 30 years.