What Farmers Need to Know About Flex Fuel Vehicles

Ford Motor Company’s decision to discontinue flex fuel engine options in new vehicles has left consumers with fewer choices for flex fuel vehicles (FFVs), especially farmers who grow the corn used to produce ethanol. 

Missouri Corn Growers Association CEO and farmer Bradley Schad wrote a letter to Ford in April 2025 also signed by corn growers’ associations in 22 states. 

“I grew up in a Ford family, and as a poor college student, I started blending my own ethanol for my F-150 to save money,” Schad said. “I became passionate about educating people about ethanol, and purchased my first flex fuel vehicle in 2007.”

Since then he has purchased additional FFVs for his family — especially the F-150, Ford’s most popular pickup truck model. However, when it comes time to replace those vehicles, there may not be a flex fuel option available, leaving drivers with fewer choices that support homegrown fuel. 

“Farmers want to be able to use E85 and we can’t do that with new models,” Schad said. “We want to use a fuel we produce ourselves, but without FFVs on the market, that opportunity is being taken away. The cost to add flex fuel technology is around $100 in the factory, and when you’re looking at the price of a new truck, that’s a small price to support American-made fuel.”

Rodney Weinzierl, executive director of the Illinois Corn Growers Association, says its membership is looking for FFVs, and is disappointed in having fewer options available. 

“We have a lot of members who want to do what they can to increase demand for corn,” he said. “FFVs allow corn farmers to have a product they can purchase and talk to their neighbors about that uses their own product. They can practice what they preach, and it’s an easy product to promote.”

History of FFVs

Ford has a long history with FFVs, going all the way back to its founder, Henry Ford, who manufactured his Model T to run on both gasoline and ethanol fuel. Using a carburetor fitted with adjustable jets, the engine could run on either type of fuel, or a combination. 

Ethanol and methanol fuels fell out of favor with U.S. automakers until the oil crisis of the 1970s. That prompted the government to offer support for the development of alternative fuels, which had the additional benefit of improving air quality. 

“The federal government created alternative fuel classifications, and that’s where the 85 in E85 or M85 comes in,” said Robert White, senior vice president, industry relations and market development for the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA). “California was the first state to have M85 vehicles readily available.”

White’s father, Jere, was the executive director at the Kansas Corn Growers Association from 1988-2014, and he and the executive director of Missouri Corn Growers created a program to bring FFVs to the Midwest. 

“They hired interns from Kansas State and Mizzou, and they flew them to California and had them drive M85 vehicles back to Missouri and Kansas, to prove that they did work and to have promotional vehicles to run on ethanol,” White said. 

Ford produced the first commercially available FFV, the Taurus, in 1996. The car was introduced at the Chicago Auto Show, and was manufactured in Illinois. 

“I believe there were more than 400 preorders for that car when it was announced,” White said. “Pro-ethanol and corn growers groups had been trying to get FFVs built for years, and as soon as they became available they bought as many as they could.”

The CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) credit program was enacted by Congress in 1975 as a way to decrease fuel consumption, and was revised over the years to reward efforts to create domestic jobs and explore alternative fuel options. When the Alternative Motor  Fuels Act (AMFA) was passed in 1988, FFVs utilizing alcohol or natural gas fuels became eligible for incentives which could be used to offset fuel economy requirements and increase CAFE scores. Automakers were given a CAFE goal each year, and production above that goal earned credits. If an automaker fell short of their goal, there was a penalty paid to the federal government.

“Starting in 2014, the CAFE credit program for FFVs started to wane, and by 2020 the credits disappeared,” White said. “In 2015 we saw the peak of FFVs being produced – 80 different models. Everywhere you turned, there was an FFV because it wasn’t something that had to be special ordered. If you purchased a Taurus, it was flex fuel. If you purchased an F-150, it was flex fuel. You didn’t pay extra for that.”

However, as the financial benefits to the CAFE program disappeared, automakers began reducing the FFV options in their fleets. 

“Despite all the things that were said about farmers and societal benefit, when there was no money coming in from the back end they started reducing the amount of FFVs almost in tandem,” White said. 

The last flex-fuel F-150s were produced in model year 2023. GM introduced four model year 2025 FFVs – Chevy Trax, Chevy Trailblazer, Buick Envista, and Buick Encore, all SUVs.  

What Does the Future Hold?

With the expiration of CAFE, RFA has been promoting the Flex Fuel Fairness Act, sponsored by Reps. Marianette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, and Angie Craig, D-Minn., and Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Pete Ricketts, R-Neb. The Act aims to place FFVs on a level playing field with electric vehicles when considering the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

“The irony is that the federal government assumes an FFV will never use E85, thus giving automakers no greenhouse gas emission credit for the fuel that would ultimately be used, but it was also assumed that an electric vehicle will use renewable electricity 100% of the time,” White said. “If the assumption is made that an FFV will use E85, it results in a 31% reduction in greenhouse gas emission scoring.”

The EPA’s recent decision to allow E15 sales nationwide during the summer driving season is another win for ethanol. E15 can be used in nearly 96% of vehicles on the road today, model years 2001 and newer. 

“The emergency waiver is good, but our number one priority is to get E15 year-round as the base offering, replacing E10,” White said. “That would mean a 50% bump in ethanol opportunity. The president is telling Congress to get E15 to his desk, and we remain optimistic.”

What Can Farmers Do?

If someone is interested in purchasing a new or used FFV, the Department of Energy has a website that lists all the models by year that use E85. 

Farmers can also contact their legislators to ask about the progress of the Flex Fuel Fairness Act and ask them to become co-signers, especially if they are in a heavy row crop district. 

“State corn growers associations will be reaching out to members at the appropriate time to make contacts regarding legislation, so I would recommend paying attention to those signals and taking action at that time,” Weinzierl said. 

He also noted that his association and others are actively working with the auto industry to figure out opportunities for mutual benefit of FFVs in future model years.

“I personally think there will be an opportunity, probably not in 2025 but in the next couple years, to get FFVs back into the picture,” he said.