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(NewsUSA) - Choice can be a wonderful thing, especially when it comes to fueling your car.
With prices rising for traditional fossil fuels, alternative fuels such as E85 - a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline - are growing in popularity and prevalence. But because most car models are still designed to operate exclusively on gasoline, consumers are faced with a dilemma: Their cars may not be able to run on what could become the next generation of fuel.
Flexible fuel vehicles, those that can run on either gasoline or ethanol, are not yet mainstream in the U.S., but Virginia-based XcelPlus has introduced a device that can be installed in ordinary cars to convert them into flexible fuel vehicles.
Most cars can be retrofitted in just about an hour or less with this technology that was developed in Brazil, according to Bill Smith, president of XcelPlus.
For years, flexible fuel vehicles have experienced enormous popularity in other parts of the world. According to an article by Ethanol Producer Magazine, flexible fuel vehicles represented 70 percent of Brazil's new car sales in 2005.
But despite the foreign popularity of this technology and its viability for use in the United States, American manufacturers have largely been slow to incorporate it into their vehicles, and the vast majority of U.S. cars still run on gasoline.
But with FlexTek, the choice is in consumers' hands or, rather, in their engines.
Developed in Brazil, FlexTek can be quickly and easily installed in about 30 minutes, according to XcelPlus. It plugs into the vehicle's existing wiring harness without cutting or splicing, and can be removed at any time, leaving the car unaltered.
FlexTek works by intercepting the signal coming from the car's computer to the fuel injectors. It extends the signal to the injectors so that enough fuel can enter the delivery system, essentially instructing it to function at a rate that allows the burning of gasoline, ethanol or a combination of the two.
For more information and to see if your car can be converted into a flexible fuel vehicle, visit www.flextek.com or call 800-472-7409.