In Implementing Alternative Fuels > Brazil Is Already 'Round The Bend

Filed in archive on August 23, 2007

sugar cane, not corn, provides all of Brazil's ethanol supply.
[Image Source: Tropicalisland.de]

By Gunnar Heinrich

In 1985, most cars in Brazil were powered exclusively by ethanol. In effect, it took the populous South American country 10 years to transition from oil to ethanol produced from the country's own sugar cane fields. That ended abruptly in the late 80s when the price of sugar skyrocketed and Brazil's ethanol producers switched back to producing the sweet white stuff.

According to the Detroit News, the effect was devastating. Dealerships couldn't give their inventories of ethanol-only cars away and the population scrambled to buy what few gasoline-powered cars there were.

So, when Ford and GM announced in 2002 and 2003 that they could bring (and did in GM's case) flex-fuel cars that could run effectively on ethanol or gasoline or a mixture of both, the idea sold about as well to Brazilians as, well, sugar.

Read more on Brazil's ethanol transition >>>

[Source: Detroit News]