General Motors, VeraSun Energy and Enterprise Rent-A-Car Bring Home-Grown, Renewable Fuel to D.C. Motorists

E85 Ethanol Becomes Publicly Available in Nation’s Capital

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Drivers of flex fuel cars and trucks that can run on either gasoline or ethanol will now, for the first time, be able to fill up on E85 ethanol in our nation’s Capital. General Motors and VeraSun Energy, one of the nation’s largest ethanol producers today announced the opening of the first retail pump of VE85 TM, VeraSun’s branded E85 ethanol, within Washington, D.C. limits.

Located at the Georgetown Chevron, 2450 Wisconsin Ave, N.W., Washington’s first retail E85 ethanol pump will be followed by the opening of additional refueling sites in the coming months. A second VE85 fueling site is also available to the public at the Navy Exchange station near the Pentagon in Arlington, VA.

Also joining GM and VeraSun Energy’s efforts to promote the availability and use of E85 ethanol, Enterprise Rent-A-Car announced that it is designating its premier rental location in Washington D.C. as an official “E85/FlexFuel branch.” The new fueling locations are a part of a larger, national effort among the companies to boost the use and awareness of ethanol-based E85 fuel in the United States as just one way toward displacing petroleum and increasing energy security.

“GM wants to be a part of the solution to reduce this nation’s dependence on petroleum,” said Elizabeth Lowery, GM vice president of environment, energy and safety policy. “At GM, we believe that biofuels like E85 give us the greatest near-term potential to actually reduce gasoline consumption and vehicle emissions. That’s why GM is committed to building vehicles that can run on E85 ethanol with over two million of our flex fuel vehicles on the road today and plans to expand production going forward.”

For the 2007 model year, GM offers 14 E85 ethanol-capable vehicle models--more than any other automaker--with an annual production of more than 400,000 vehicles.

VeraSun and GM have been working in partnership since 2005, having successfully worked with retailers in Sioux Falls, S.D., Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Pittsburgh to increase the availability of both flexible fuel vehicles and VE85TM. Today, VE85 TM is available at more than 90 stations in nine states and D.C.

“These flex fuel vehicles are on the road today and it’s critical that there are more E85 pumps to fuel them,” said Don Endres, VeraSun’s chairman and CEO. “We are excited to continue to expand our ongoing partnership with General Motors to increase the availability of E85 and to promote the many benefits of using this domestically-produced, renewable fuel.”

Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s E85/FlexFuel branch - located at 1029 Vermont Ave. NW in Washington, D.C. - will include 50 GM E85 ethanol-capable vehicles stocked with materials about the Georgetown Chevron fueling station location and the benefits of E85 ethanol. “As owner of the world’s largest fleet of vehicles, we want to send a loud and clear message that, as alternative technologies like flex fuel become commercially available we will embrace them,” said Matthew G. Darrah, senior vice president, North American Operations, for Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Representatives from the District, the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture were also on hand to make the announcement.