BioFuels Journal

BFJ.Com Podcast with Dr. Candace Wheeler, GM Technical Fellow, On the New I-65 Biofuels 4-State Corridor

The nation’s first biofuels corridor stretching 886 miles across four states opened Oct. 8 along Interstate 65 (I-65) from Gary, IN to Mobile, Al with 31 new E85 pumps installed at 31 gas stations.

BioFuels Journal discussed with new corridor, stretching across Indiana, Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee with General Motors' (GM) Candace Wheeler.

GM, which currently has 18 flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) in its fleet, plans to have 50% of its vehicles FFV-capable by 2012.

Highlights from the Podcast

•Infrastructure still needed. Of 170,000 retail gasoline stations, only 1,800 are equipped to sell E85.

•"The infrastructure for E85 stations is a major roadblock to overcome and we’re working hard to develop that infrastructure," Wheeler said.

• Issues involved with converting the entire fleet manufactured by GM to FFVs.

Biography

Candace Wheeler, Technical Fellow, Chemical & Environmental Sciences Research and Development

General Motors

Dr. Wheeler is a GM Technical Fellow and serves as the Biofuels Lead in the GM Global energy Systems Center.

She joined GM in 1981 as a post doctoral fellow and then as a regular employee in 1983.

Her early work involved studying the health effects of diesel particulate, ozone, and fibrous materials.

For the past 12 years, she has shifted her focus to sustainable transportation including life cycle analysis, alternative fuels, and vehicle recycling.

An author of numerous publications, she serves on the advisory board of a number of energy and biofuels organizations and has been an invited speaker and panelist at several of the industry’s leading conferences. Dr. Wheeler received her Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, MI.

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