Yes, many Brazilian cars use hydrated ethanol. We simply call this fuel "alcohol". Here in Brazil, Alcohol (U$0.40 per liter) is 25% to 50% cheaper than Gasoline, depending on the season. Alcohol cars spend 25% more fuel than the same model with a gas engine. This means that in one year you always pay less than a person who has a gasoline car. For the same motor size, the alcohol one has equal or greater power than the gasoline one. My one is 4% more powerful (120 cv), but cold be more if the industries wishes. On colder days (temperatures below 10 degree celsius), gasoline is introduced during motor startup during a few seconds. Since all new models use fuel injection, the engine startup is easy and few people notice the difference. Many people don't like alcohol cars because they had difficulties starting the engines one decade ago, when the cars used carburetors instead of fuel injection. We don't have dual fuel cars (gasoline/alcohol) because alcohol motors use a higher compression ratio which would make the gasoline detonate before the spark production. The anti-detonation characteristic of alchohol permits higher compression ratios and power for the same motor size. Here in Brazil you can convert gasoline/alchohol cars to operate with gas and the original fuel (you choose which one to use simply turning a switch). This conversion costs less than U$1000 in Brazil and there ara many refueling stations in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo. Finally, alcohol causes less polution and does not produce that bad smell that gasoline does in catalisator equipped cars.
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Yes, many Brazilian cars use hydrated ethanol. We simply call this fuel "alcohol". Here in Brazil, Alcohol (U$0.40 per liter) is 25% to 50% cheaper than Gasoline, depending on the season. Alcohol cars spend 25% more fuel than the same model with a gas engine. This means that in one year you always pay less than a person who has a gasoline car. For the same motor size, the alcohol one has equal or greater power than the gasoline one. My one is 4% more powerful (120 cv), but cold be more if the industries wishes. On colder days (temperatures below 10 degree celsius), gasoline is introduced during motor startup during a few seconds. Since all new models use fuel injection, the engine startup is easy and few people notice the difference. Many people don't like alcohol cars because they had difficulties starting the engines one decade ago, when the cars used carburetors instead of fuel injection. We don't have dual fuel cars (gasoline/alcohol) because alcohol motors use a higher compression ratio which would make the gasoline detonate before the spark production. The anti-detonation characteristic of alchohol permits higher compression ratios and power for the same motor size. Here in Brazil you can convert gasoline/alchohol cars to operate with gas and the original fuel (you choose which one to use simply turning a switch). This conversion costs less than U$1000 in Brazil and there ara many refueling stations in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo. Finally, alcohol causes less polution and does not produce that bad smell that gasoline does in catalisator equipped cars.