Drawbacks of Biodiesel

While there are certainly a lot of impressive benefits of using ethanol fuel, such as using less oil and carbon dioxide emissions are off-set by the plants which produce the ethanol, there are also a few downsides. The biggest being it may be hard to find a gas station near you which sells biodiesel if you are outside the Midwest, for an affordable price. And unfortunately, this is important because you'll need to fill up more often than with traditional oil, as fuel economy is lower. (Biodiesel also boosts octane ratings, increasing performance.)

Largely this is due to the fact that ethanol can't be added to the gasoline at the refinery as it corrodes the pipes. Instead, it has to be transported in small loads to storage terminals and then mixed with the gasoline. This is a lot easier and cheaper if you live near the products which produce the ethanol, such as corn, soybeans, sugarcane, wheat, barley or potatoes.