Comments on: Could Wal-Mart tip the scales on E85

By: Greg Abbott

Greg Abbott — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 07:58:33 +0000

Well, the Wal-Mart good or bad debate is beyond the scope of this blog.

But do compare the parking lots at Wal-Mart’Sam’s Club to the parking lots at Costco. There’s a lot of Ford and GM at Wal-Mart, and a lot of late model European and Japanese luxury marques at Costco. Very different demographics.

If Wal-Mart does the E85 thing, it’ll be great in getting E85 the critical mass it needs to take off.

But I don’t think Saab owners will be going to Wal-Mart just for the E85.

By: Ian

Ian — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 05:19:00 +0000

But don’t Ford also have an E85 capability in several of their cars such as the Focus. Perhaps they are behind it?

By: PT

PT — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 23:43:50 +0000

Don’t like walmart much but this might be the fuel/car industry move of the decade if it comes off. The tipping point, if you like.

By: Ben W

Ben W — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 23:11:35 +0000

anything that gets biofuel distribution out of the hands of the traditional oil companies is A Good Thing™. i really wish new biofuel-only distributor/retailer chains were cropping up.

By: eggsngrits

eggsngrits — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 20:21:23 +0000

Greg:

Get off your high horse and come live with the rest of us. Wal-Mart is the smart buy on most items that I need for daily living, so I shop there. In my view, Saab isn’t minimalist, it’s form-follows-function. Wal-Mart is an excellent example of that philosophy, too.

Wal-Mart’s ubiquity would give E85 instant credibility. And, as mentioned, it’s a retail channel outside the current fuel supply chain that is actually interested in distributing fuel. Murphy Oil,has only one refinery, and.it’s not the most modern — and I assume it’s not very competitive. I guess that’s why they are interested.

Saab is positioned to take advantage of E85, and we have a potential retail channel. Now we simply have to figure out how to make it economically!

By: Greg Abbott

Greg Abbott — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 20:03:22 +0000

I suspect there is little overlap between Saab’s customer base and Wal-Mart’s. Anyone who appreciates minimalism and intelligent design will run screaming out of a Wal-Mart as fast as they can.

Where there is overlap is domestic pickup trucks and SUV’s — those big GM FlexFuel vehicles, a lot of them get parked in the Wal-Mart lot.

There is a chicken and the egg problem with getting E85 off the ground, and this might solve it. It may be one of the few socially constructive things Wal-Mart has ever done.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 18:33:06 +0000

I was going to post that article on here! I think Wal-Mart is waiting to see if the e85 industry will develop technology to process cellulose, instead of food.