I was looking at the EFuel web site and pondering the wisdom of purchasing one of these gizmos. I see they're offering seminars presumably to help potential buyers understand what they're getting into. I can imagine that home brewing ethanol is not exactly a trivial process no matter how well thought out this system is.
On the web site there is a note next to the price: MSRP: $9,995 (as low as $6,998 after federal tax credits) ... Tax credits? This is explained on the buy now page..
There is a federal tax credit requiring you to file form 8911, Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit. This credit refers to "property" (either buildings or equipment) which are used in refueling alternative fuel vehicles. Since the EFuel100 is a combination fermentation station and refueling station, it qualifies as a "refueling property".
Next they refer to a list of State and Federal incentives maintained by the EERE Information Center. I live in California and while there is an interesting array of incentives I'm not sure if any directly apply to the EFuel100.
They're offering a Carbon Credit. They claim that Ethanol reduces C02 emissions by 85% when used in vehicles in place of gasoline and under this reasoning an EFuel100 owner would qualify for carbon credits, and through use of carbon credits would be producing ethanol fuel at under $1 per gallon. hmm... I want to be reassured that their reasoning is sound. For example while it's likely true that an ethanol burning car has less carbon emissions, producing the sugar from which the ethanol is made has its own energy costs and carbon emissions. The true measure would be a "farm-wheels" analysis of the total costs (in energy and carbon etc) of producing sugar cane, refining into sugar, shipping to your home, etc. Their FAQ entry does go a long way to answering these questions.
Legal? Alchohol production is in a funny area of U.S. law and brings to mind moonshiners, right? I once read a book written by a moonshiner describing how to make ethanol to drive a car, and that book claimed federal law restrictions meant one could not use home produced ethanol in a vehicle driven on the regular roads. However the EFuel100 people say The U.S. Department of Treasury provides free permits for small property owners who want to produce less than 10,000 gallons of ethanol per year ... clearly the rules have changed.
However this doesn't cover fuel taxes. And before you go "huh" there have been several biodiesel or straight vegetable oil advocates arrested for using fuel for which taxes had not been paid. Remember that, in the U.S., the roads are paid for with fuel taxes. Fuel taxes are routinely collected at gas stations as part of buying gasoline. Fuel gotten through some other means like home processing vegetable oil or home brewing ethanol, this bypasses the regular system and the government can't collect their taxes. It means for this EFuel100 thingy to be legally operated there'll have to be a way to account for the fuel you produced and to pay taxes. And before one goes "huh" again (paying taxes on fuel you produce yourself) the taxes are meant to pay for roads, and the purpose of fuel is to propel a vehicle down the road.
