For Release: August 13, 2007
IRVING, Texas – Want to get attention for something? Price it so low that people cannot pass it up.
GM’s fourth E85 ethanol pump promotion in Texas – at a Kroger Store and fueling station in Irving on Aug. 8 – was a popular destination. Unlike earlier promotions in Houston, San Antonio and Austin, the two-hour Irving event featured a 20-cents-a-gallon discount on unleaded E10 (10 percent ethanol) fuel.
More than 1,160 gallons of E85 were pumped – about 10 gallons a minute. During the same period, 1,585 of unleaded was pumped. But the focus was on E85 and educating customers about how it can be an alternative to petroleum-based fuel.
“We have had E85 for about two years in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex,” said Gary Huddleston, Director of Administration for The Kroger Corp. Southwest Division. “The Irving location is one of the seven sites we have and is our most popular site.”
Many customers who use E85 are looking for more places to buy it; consistent with GM’s goal of helping build the E85 infrastructure beyond the 1,200 stations nationally selling it. The first E85 station opened in 1990, in Orange County, Calif.
GM is working with several partners, including the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC), CleanFuelUSA and the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition (NEVA), to encourage E85 expansion.
“I’ll be glad when they get some more stations closer to home, but it’s pretty convenient,”
said Cindy McClure of Coppell, Texas, who drove her Chevy Avalanche to the Kroger station in Irving.
As more E85 ethanol fueling stations open in Texas, the awareness of E85 ethanol and its benefits is growing.
“As the dependence on other countries for raw material and fuel increases, it’s getting to the point where I’d rather support the local farmers,” said Irving resident Steve Nussbaumer, who bought his GMC Yukon XL without realizing its flex-fuel capability. He and his wife researched the technology and began filling up with E85.
“Now, I won’t go back,” he said.
Others connected because of the price break, which was featured in a Dallas Morning News article before the promotion and heavily promoted on KPLX-FM radio.
“Actually I’ve never used it (E85) until today,” said Lori Hughes of Flower Mound. “I saw the promotion in the paper and also heard about it again this morning on the radio.”
The promotion also featured the free swap of a yellow gas cap for black caps that came in older E85-capable vehicles. All E85-capable vehicles have stickers on the fuel door that indicate whether E85 can be used.
Classic Chevrolet in Grapevine, which is planning to install an E85 pump at the dealership before the end of the year, sent service department foreman Kurt Ward to the promotion to swap fuel caps for those who wanted a permanent reminder of E85.
Classic is the nation’s top Chevrolet dealer by volume and sells a lot of trucks and SUVs in truck-happy Texas.
“The only ones we order are FlexFuel,” Ward said. “A customer can only get one without the capability if they specifically request it, which doesn’t happen often.”
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