FORT WAYNE, Ind. — Fort Wayne’s first flex fuel pump opened last week on the city’s north side.

The pump, one of 14 expected to open across the state in the next few months, is at the Lassus Handy Dandy station on Dupont Road just east of Interstate 69. The station opened at the end of the year and a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the official opening of the flex fuel – also called blender – pump was Thursday.

The pump offers customers the option to purchase E30 (a blend of 30 percent ethanol and 70 percent gasoline) and E85 (85 ethanol/15 gasoline), as well as three types of unleaded gasoline. Most regular unleaded gasoline has a blend of 10 percent ethanol.

“This is just an alternative for consumers and it also helps to reduce our dependency on foreign oil,” said Todd Lassus, president of Lassus Handy Dandy. “We’re proud to give flex fuel consumers the option today.”

Lassus has 32 locations in northeastern Indiana and six of those stations offer E85 pumps. The company hopes to eventually add the E30 option to its other five E85 locations, Lassus said.

Lassus officials decided to add the flex fuel pump to their newest location after observing customers attempting to mix their own blend of fuel using E85 and unleaded gasoline, Lassus explained. “Consumers recognized that there is a ‘sweet spot’ for each vehicle in regard to the best miles per gallon.”

The timing is also right because the technology for some of the dispensing components of the pumps was approved in just the last six months, he added.

While there are more than 10,000 flex fuel vehicles in Allen County, the company hadn’t received many requests for the pumps, Lassus noted. “I think that’s mainly because they’re relatively new. As consumers become more aware of this product, they’ll want to have an alternative to E85.”

The day the flex fuel pump opened, the price for E30 was 25 cents less than unleaded and E85 was 50 cents less.

Some of the funding for the pump came from the Indiana Corn Marketing Council (ICMC) through its Flex Fuel Pump Program. The program, funded with money from the corn checkoff, offers grants of up to 50 percent or $20,000, whichever is less, to retailers toward the purchase of flex fuel pumps and site infrastructure, said Rosalind Leeck, ICMC director of grain marketing and biofuels.

“This is something our farmers are committed to,” she explained. “Any way we can help bring things like this to the market to help our farmers, we’ll continue to do so. These mid-level blends are very appealing to consumers.”

Indiana corn farmers have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars through the program toward getting the infrastructure developed for flex fuel pumps, Leeck noted. There’s still funding available for more pumps beyond those that have already received grants, she added. In the next few months, six retailers, including Lassus, will add flex fuel pumps across the state, said Mike Shuter, ICMC president.

“This gives Indiana corn farmers the chance to add to consumers’ choices out there,” he noted. “The corn marketing council is a group of 17 corn farmer directors who work to add value to the corn crop for Indiana farmers.”

The city of Fort Wayne’s fleet of vehicles has been using E85 for five years, and used 124,000 gallons of the blend last year, said Larry Campbell, director of fleet management for the city. The city has 585 flex fuel vehicles.

“The more fueling sites they put in, the more it helps to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,” he noted. “When Mayor (Tom) Henry first took office, he had some green initiatives he wanted to do, including to reduce emissions and our dependency on foreign oil.

“As the city has grown, our fleet has grown, but we still have to reduce our emissions and be concerned about what’s coming out of the tailpipe.”