GM Partners with Coskata and Mascoma to Push Ethanol Technology

In January of 2008, General Motors formally announced a partnership with Coskata Inc., a company that has the technology to make ethanol from nearly any renewable source, like garbage, old tires and plant waste. When the partnership was announced, Coskata said it could produce ethanol for less than $1 a gallon -- a third as much as it takes to kick out a gallon of gas.

The company's process uses less than a gallon of water to make a gallon of ethanol, while grain-based ethanol requires three times the amount of H₂O to do the same thing.

On May 1, 2008, GM announced that it had formed a partnership with a second ethanol tech company, Mascoma Corporation, which also uses non-grain materials to produce ethanol. GM says the company's single-step conversion process complements its earlier partnership with Coskata.

What does E85 Capable Mean?

You'll hear the terms flex-fuel and E85 capable used interchangeably. Both tell you that a car or truck can run on any blend of ethanol and gas, up to 85-percent ethanol, or on gasoline only.

GM's Ethanol Push

GM has been working to grow the E85 infrastructure in the U.S. and has helped to open about 300 fueling stations in fifteen states. The two partnerships will help seal the availability of ethanol as GM produces more E85 capable vehicles -- fifteen in 2009 and half of its fleet by 2012.

The first ethanol from Coskata's pilot plant will be used to test vehicles at GM's Milford Proving Grounds in the fall of 2008. The company says its first commercial plant will produce 50 to 100 million gallons of ethanol a year by 2011.