The authority dictating the actual percentage of ethanol in the pump E85 is the ethanol manufacturer (who is subsidized by taxpayers): ADM, a/k/a Archer-Daniels-Midland, who pretty much owns Iowa and the corn business.
Corn-derived alcohol is that rare substance that requires more energy (and money) to produce it that it liberates when burned (and sold).
AFAIK it is not quite that sinister. The EPA is pretty transparent on these regs:
federal gasonline regulations and specifically generic ‘pump gas’ cannot exceed E10 without proper labeling/warning else a service station is enabling misfueling:
final rule on misfueling As such E15 is not ‘regular’ gas in today’s world.
As for the ethanol content in E85 - it is by definition a 'gasoline blend' of not less than 51% and no more than 85% ethanol. In practice service stations avoid delivering more than 83% ethanol:
FuelFreedom.org which is for use in vehicles that can detect and utilize so called flexible fuels. The amount of ethanol varies by season, geography and availability of product:
LiveScience For me the most interesting thing about flex fuels is the BTU effect. Gasoline packs a much greater punch then ethanol. So the higher the percentage of gasoline in the blend the further your flex fuel vehicle will travel on a tank full . . .
