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Fuels and Fuel Additives

E15 (a blend of gasoline and ethanol)

In response to a request by Growth Energy and 54 ethanol manufacturers under the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted two partial waivers that taken together allow but do not require the introduction into commerce of gasoline that contains greater than 10 volume percent (vol%) ethanol and up to 15 vol% ethanol (E15) for use in model year (MY) 2001 and newer light-duty motor vehicles, subject to certain conditions. On October 13, 2010, EPA granted the first partial waiver for E15 for use in MY2007 and newer light-duty motor vehicles (i.e., cars, light-duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles). On January 21, 2011, EPA granted the second partial waiver for E15 for use in MY2001-2006 light-duty motor vehicles. These decisions were based on test results provided by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and other test data and information regarding the potential effect of E15 on vehicle emissions.

EPA also issued a Rule (PDF) (45 pp, 991K, published July 25, 2011) to help inform consumers about the appropriate use of E15 and reduce the potential for misfueling of vehicles, engines and equipment that are prohibited from using E15.

On February 17, 2012, EPA released an evaluation of information submitted by the Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy for satisfying the emissions and health effects data requirements for registration of E15. The Evaluation Document concludes that the submission would be sufficient to satisfy those requirements. Fuel and fuel additive manufacturers who wish to register E15 may choose to rely on the submission for completing their applications.

E15 may be lawfully sold by a fuel or fuel additive manufacturer only after the manufacturer has registered E15 and met the conditions of the partial waivers. For more information on fuel registration, visit the Registration and Health Effect Testing page. There are a number of additional factors, including requirements under other federal, state, and local laws, that may also affect the distribution of E15.

Learn more about the Notices, Regulations, Petition for New Rulemaking and Registration.

What is E15?

E15 is a blend of gasoline and up to 15 vol% ethanol. Prior to EPA's October waiver decision, the amount of ethanol in motor vehicle gasoline was limited to 10 vol% (E10). E10 was granted a waiver under Clean Air Act section 211(f)(4) more than 30 years ago and is now ubiquitous in the marketplace, making up over 90% of the U.S. gasoline market.

The primary source of ethanol is corn, but other grains or biomass sources may be used as feedstocks.

What Vehicles May Use E15?

  • Flexible-fuel vehicles (FFVs)
  • MY2001 and newer cars
  • MY2001 and newer light-duty trucks
  • MY2001 and newer medium-duty passenger vehicles (SUVs)

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What Vehicles and Engines May Not Use E15?

  • All motorcycles
  • All vehicles with heavy-duty engines, such as school buses, transit buses, and delivery trucks
  • All off-road vehicles, such as boats and snowmobiles
  • All engines in off-road equipment, such as lawnmowers and chain saws
  • All MY2000 and older cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty passenger vehicles (SUVs)

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What is the E15 Waiver?

In order to protect the emission control systems of vehicles and engines, the Clean Air Act prohibits the introduction into commerce of fuels or fuel additives that are not substantially similar to the fuels or fuel additives used in certifying vehicles and engines to emission standards. However, the Clean Air Act authorizes EPA to grant a waiver of this prohibition if it can be demonstrated that the vehicles and engines using the otherwise prohibited fuel or fuel additive will continue to meet their emission standards over their “full useful life” (e.g., 100,000 or 120,000 miles for light-duty motor vehicles, depending on the vehicle type and model year).

In March 2009, Growth Energy (a coalition of U.S. ethanol supporters) and 54 ethanol manufacturers applied for a waiver to increase the allowable amount of ethanol in gasoline from E10 to E15. The waiver application included data on the impact of E15 on vehicle emissions, fuel system materials, and driveability. Additional data were developed by DOE, which in 2008 began testing for potential impacts of various ethanol-gasoline blends on the emission control systems of MY2007 and newer light-duty motor vehicles. This testing followed enactment of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which calls for significantly increasing the amount of biofuels, such as ethanol, to be used in transportation fuel.

On October 13, 2010, based in large part on DOE test data, EPA partially granted Growth Energy's waiver request. This partial waiver allows fuel and fuel additive manufacturers to introduce E15 into commerce for use in MY2007 and newer light-duty motor vehicles, subject to certain conditions. EPA denied the waiver for E15 use in MY2000 and older light-duty motor vehicles, and all heavy-duty gasoline engines and vehicles (e.g., delivery trucks), highway and off-highway motorcycles, and nonroad engines, vehicles, and equipment (e.g., boats, snowmobiles, and lawnmowers) due to insufficient test data or other information to support a waiver for these vehicles and engines.

On January 21, 2011, after additional DOE test data were made available to the public (see EPA Docket #EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0211 at www.regulations.gov), EPA took further action on Growth Energy’s waiver request application by partially approving the waiver to allow the introduction into commerce of E15 for use in MY2001-2006 and newer light-duty motor vehicles, subject to the same conditions that apply to the partial waiver decision for MY2007 and newer light-duty motor vehicles. Taken together, the two waiver decisions allow the introduction into commerce of E15 for use in MY2001 and newer light-duty motor vehicles if the waiver conditions are met.

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What Conditions are Part of the Waiver Decision?

EPA placed two types of conditions on the waiver for E15: those to help prevent misfueling of E15 into vehicles, engines and equipment that may not use E15 and those addressing fuel and ethanol quality. All conditions must be met before E15 may be introduced into commerce.

Fuel quality conditions:

  • Ethanol used for E15 must meet ASTM International D4806-10.
  • The Reid Vapor Pressure for E15 is limited to 9.0 psi during the summertime.

Misfueling mitigation conditions:

  • Labels must be placed on E15 retail dispensers indicating that E15 use is only for MY2001 and newer motor vehicles.
  • Product Transfer Documents (PTDs) must accompany all transfers of fuels for E15 use.
  • Parties involved in the manufacture of E15 must participate in a survey of compliance at fuel retail dispensing facilities to ensure proper labeling of dispensers.
  • Parties must submit a plan addressing conditions to EPA for approval.

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What is EPA doing to Address Potential Misfueling?

On June 23, 2011, EPA finalized regulations to help prevent misfueling of vehicles, engines and equipment not covered by the partial waiver decisions. These regulations require all E15 fuel dispensers to have a label, shown below, that informs consumers about what vehicles can, and what vehicles and equipment cannot, use E15. The rule prohibits the use of gasoline containing greater than 10 vol% ethanol in the vehicles, engines and equipment that cannot use E15. The rule also requires PTDs specifying ethanol content and Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) to accompany the transfer of gasoline blended with ethanol and a survey of retail stations to help ensure compliance with labeling and ethanol content requirements.

The label on E15 fuel dispensers to inform consumers about the appropriate use of E15. E15, up to 15% ethanol, is for use only in 2001 and newer passenger vehicles and flex-fuel vehicles. Do not use E15 in other vehicles, boats, or gasoline-powered equipment. It may cause damage and is prohibited by federal law.

This rule complements the E15 partial waiver decisions, and does not replace or remove any conditions of the waiver decisions. The rule is expected to facilitate effective implementation of the waiver conditions and further reduce the potential for misfueling.

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Notices

NOTE: You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, available as a free download, to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more about PDF, and for a link to the free Acrobat Reader.

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Regulations

Final Rule: Regulation To Mitigate the Misfueling of Vehicles and Engines With Gasoline Containing Greater Than Ten Volume Percent Ethanol and Modifications to the Reformulated and Conventional Gasoline Programs

Proposed Rule: Regulation to Mitigate the Misfueling of Vehicles and Engines with Gasoline Containing Greater than Ten Volume Percent Ethanol and Modifications to the Reformulated and Conventional Gasoline Programs

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Petition for New Rulemaking

EPA received a petition requesting a rulemaking to ensure the continued availability of gasoline containing 10 vol% or less ethanol at retail stations for use in vehicles, engines, and nonroad equipment not covered by the E15 partial waivers. EPA denied the petition for reasons discussed in Preamble section III.F.d of the final rule.

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Registration

The Clean Air Act and EPA regulations require that manufacturers of gasoline and diesel fuels and fuel additives produced and commercially distributed for use in highway motor vehicles must register their gasoline and diesel fuels and fuel additives with EPA. In addition to providing basic information such as product and manufacturer identification, manufacturers are required to analyze the emissions generated by the fuel and fuel additive products, survey existing scientific information for each product, and where adequate information is not available, conduct specified tests to screen for the potential adverse health effects of these emissions. The primary purpose of the registration program is to provide information for identifying and evaluating the potential adverse effects of fuels and fuel additives emissions to help inform any future regulatory decision-making. All individual fuel and fuel additive manufacturers involved in manufacturing E15 must register. Registration forms for fuel and fuel additive manufacturers can be found here.

The Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy submitted information and analysis for satisfying the testing requirements for registration of E15. Their submission can be found here. EPA has released its evaluation of the submission. The Evaluation Document concludes that the submission would be sufficient to satisfy the testing requirements for an E15 registration application. The Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy are making their submission available to those F/FA manufacturers who wish to register E15 for use without charge.

In addition to testing information, a fuel or fuel additive manufacturer wishing to register E15 must include in its E15 registration application product and manufacturer identification, specific compositional data and total annual production volume. EPA acts on fuel registration applications as they are received. A manufacturer has registered E15 when EPA approves its E15 registration application.

Registration, although a prerequisite to introducing E15 into the marketplace, by itself does not mean E15 can immediately be sold. E15 was granted conditional waivers to be introduced into commerce for use in model year 2001 and newer light-duty motor vehicles (cars and all but the largest pick-up trucks, vans and SUVs), and the misfueling mitigation conditions of the waiver must be met before E15 can be lawfully sold. Specifically, those fuel and fuel additive manufacturers wishing to register E15 must obtain EPA approval of, and implement a misfueling mitigation plan and a survey plan before selling E15. In addition, other federal, state and local requirements and practical concerns, such as dispenser and tank compatibility, must be addressed. Since a number of states restrict the sale of some gasoline-ethanol blends, state law changes may be needed before E15 may be sold in those states.

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If you have questions or request information, please contact the appropriate support or help line found on the Support & Help page.

Please visit EPA's Transportation and Air Quality web-based repository of mobile source documents, Document Index System (DIS). This searchable repository contains regulations, Federal Register notices, policy letters, and guidance documents.

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