I drive a 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid. When you state "results were weak to inconclusive" I'm assuming you are referring to "miles per gallon" comparison with gasoline (E0) and ethanol blends. This is what almost everyone looks at and ignores everything else in an attempt to make an apple to orange comparison. Sometimes I get the same or even better mileage (mpg) on ethanol blends of E20-25. My cost per mile is normally significantly cheaper with the usual ethanol discount.
Part of that has to do with the per gallon cost of the fuels. I'm not seeing that much of savings with E85
but we only have one station in the Huntsville area that sells it. I burn up my savings driving to it.
So now I'm testing E10 from Shell, just to see where it fits.
Bob Wilson