History Main / AlcoholIsGasoline

* ''TabletopGame/Cyberpunk2020'' and ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'': Justified example: because of [[PostPeakOil energy crisis issues]], many vehicles in the setting utilize a blend of energy-dense alcohols named CHOOH-2 as fuel. (In real life, [-CH3OH-] is the formula of methanol). The issue of taking from the world's food supply to make fuel was solved by having it made from a special genetically engineered grain that is supposedly highly nutritious, but not even the most powerful world elites will even dare using for food.

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': Fluff of some ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicles has them able to run on multiple fuel sources, from gasoline to kerosene to ethanol. [[GameplayAndStorySegregation This has no in-game effects]].
* ''TabletopGame/Cyberpunk2020'' and ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'': Justified example: because of [[PostPeakOil energy crisis issues]], many vehicles in the setting utilize a blend of energy-dense alcohols named CHOOH-2 as fuel. (In real life, CH3OH is the formula of methanol). The issue of taking from the world's food supply to make fuel was solved by having it made from a special genetically engineered grain that is supposedly highly nutritious, but not even the most powerful world elites will even dare using for food.

* ''Videogame/FarCryNewDawn'': Ethanol is basically oil AfterTheEnd. It's also in abundant stock by the villainous Highwaymen to the point that you will be regularly raiding them.

** ''TabletopGame/NuclearRenaissance'' has alcoholic fuel plentiful, due to bio-engineered yeasts that make it (along with things like tyre-grade rubber, etc.) so most engines are usually built specifically to use the alcohol. Yes, there are also species which produce drinking alcohol.

** Orks are an odd example - their vehicle fuel, while not especially high-grade, is genuinely made for that purpose. The Orks are just tough enough to drink the stuff anyway. ''ComicBook/DeffSkwadron'' even depicts Ork aircraft as having their fuel lines running through their cockpits, in case the pilot wants a quick drink mid-flight.
** The Imperial Guard's vehicles are designed to run on anything flammable, from [[https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Promethium fossil fuels and refined gas giant vapors]] to alcohols and even ''wood'' in some sources, as the [=STCs=] used to produce them were designed for use on self-sufficient colony worlds. In the 41st millennium that versatility allows the Imperial war machine to keep running in spite of the [[VastBureaucracy Administratum's]] literal tons of red tape.

* Downplayed in Episode 1 of ''VideoGame/BackToTheFutureTheGame''. Marty’s main objective for most of the episode is breaking Doc out of jail by convincing the Emmett Brown of 1931 to finish a working prototype of his Creator/JulesVerne-inspired rocket-powered drill. Part of this mission is acquiring a barrel full of 190 proof grain alcohol from a Prohibition speakeasy. In this case, the alcohol on its own is not just poured into the rockets, it’s the main ingredient for preparing the rocket fuel. There’s even a minigame where Marty must follow young Emmett’s instructions to synthesize the fuel, a process involving electrolysis-produced hydrogen getting vented into the distillation barrel and a chemical reaction catalyzed by bacteria-generated nitrogen. And while the result is more effective than the above-mentioned instance of 180 proof whiskey blowing out the [=DeLorean=]’s fuel injection manifold in ''Part III'' of the trilogy, the rockets are inevitably subject to StuffBlowingUp, as Doc predicted.
* In ''Videogame/FarCryNewDawn'', ethanol is basically oil AfterTheEnd. It's also in abundant stock by the villainous Highwaymen to the point that you will be regularly raiding them.

[[quoteright:350:[[Website.YouTube https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/what_happens_if_you_fill_up_a_car_with_alcohol_youtube_thumbnail.jpg]]]]

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* ''Film/{{Gamer}}'': In an particularly egregious example John "Kable" Tillman is a death row inmate who must escape from a televised death match against other inmates in which his actions are controlled remotely by a teenage "gamer" through nanites implanted in Tillman's brain. An organization called "Humanz" is pulling strings to aid Tillman in his escape, and have smuggled vodka into his prison for him to use as vehicle fuel. Prior to the match Tillman chugs the vodka to disrupt the nanites and his "gamer's" control over his actions. When combat begins Tillman makes a dash for an abandoned car park where he pukes the alcohol into a 1973 Chevrolet C20 Fleetside gas tank, urinates in the tank, hotwires the car, and speeds away.

A subtrope of ArtisticLicenseCars, ArtisticLicenseChemistry and ArtisticLicenseEngineering. Compare GasolineLastsForever, another trope involving last ditch efforts to get a car to run. Compare also BoozeFlamethrower.

* The V-2 rocket, perhaps the most infamous of Germany's ''Wunderwaffen'' concocted during the late stages of WorldWarII, ran on "B-Stoff", a fuel mixture made up of 75% ethanol and 25% water. A single V-2 launch required the equivalent of about 30 metric tons of potatoes in order to distill enough ethanol (at a time when the country was experiencing dire food shortages), and at the height of the program, the V-2 consumed a third of Germany's entire alcohol production.

* Series/OneThousandWaysToDie: Inverted. A fugitive tries to get drunk by drinking the gasoline from his motorcycle, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome only to throw up]] on his campfire and burn himself to death.

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* Downplayed in Episode 1 of ''VideoGame/BackToTheFutureTheGame''. Marty’s main objective for most of the episode is breaking Doc out of jail by convincing the Emmett Brown of 1931 to finish a working prototype of his Creator/JulesVerne-inspired rocket-powered drill. Part of this mission is acquiring a barrel full of 190 proof grain alcohol from a Prohibition speakeasy. In this case, the alcohol on its own is not just poured into the rockets, it’s the main ingredient for preparing the rocket fuel. There’s even a minigame where Marty must follow young Emmett’s instructions to synthesize the fuel, a process involving electrolysis-produced hydrogen getting vented into the distillation barrel and a chemical reaction catalyzed by bacteria-generated nitrogen. And while the result is more effective than the above-mentioned instance of 180 proof whiskey blowing out the [=DeLorean=]’s fuel injection manifold in ''Part III'' of the trilogy, the rockets are inevitably subject to StuffBlowingUp, as Doc predicted.
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* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'': Subverted. Stuck in the old west with no gasoline to power the [=DeLorean=], Doc Brown and Marty attempt this using the strongest liquor they were able to get their hands on. However, all [[RealityEnsues it accomplishes is blowing out their engine]].

** One (cut out) outtake of the epilogue had Wong suffering badly for that choice, because [[RealityEnsues drinking alcohol with ''that'' high a proof turned out to give him brain damage]].

* Series/OneThousandWaysToDie: Inverted. A fugitive tries to get drunk by drinking the gasoline from his motorcycle, [[RealityEnsues only to throw up]] on his campfire and burn himself to death.

* ''Film/DownPeriscope'': PlayedWith. At the climax, the Stingray's chief mechanic pours a bottle of whiskey inside of the (diesel) submarine's gas tank to thin the mixture and [[NitroBoost make the sub go faster]]. There's some TruthInTelevision, as alcohol possesses coolant and anti-detonation properties which, when added to the fuel mixture, allows some forms of combustion engines to be operated at higher than normal power levels.

* ''TabletopGame/Cyberpunk2020'' and ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'': Justified example: because of [[PostPeakOil energy crisis issues]], many vehicles in the setting utilize a blend of high-powered alcohol named CHOOH-2 as fuel. (In real life, CH3OH is the formula of methanol). The issue of taking from the world's food supply to make fuel was solved by having it made from a special grain that is supposedly highly nutritious, but not even the most powerful world elites will even dare using for food.

* The [[http://www.railwaypages.com/index.php?tmp=2&id=27&p=4 Model Dockyard Locomotive]], a 1843 train toy, used a [[MyLittlePanzer real stram-powered engine]] fuelled with kerosene or, yes, alcohol.

* Since 1976, Brazil has been using ethanol (from sugar cane) fueled cars alongside gasoline powered cars. Gas stations have multiple pumps for "Alcool" and "Gasolina", specially once hybrids that run on both (either separatedly or combined) started to emerge in the 2000s.
* UsefulNotes/IndyCar racecars used to run on pure methanol for safety reasons (it's much easier to put out a methanol fire than a gasoline fire). In the early 2000s, they were re-engineered to use either a methanol-ethanol blend or pure ethanol.

* Since 1976, Brazil has been using ethanol (from sugar cane) fueled cars alongside gasoline powered cars. Gas stations have multiple pumps for "Alcool" and "Gasolina"

* ''TabletopGame/Cyberpunk2020'' and ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'': Justified example: because of [[PostPeakOil energy crisis issues]], many vehicles in the setting utilize a blend of high-powered alcohol named CHOOH-2 as fuel. (In real life, CH3OH is the formula of methanol).

* ''TabletopGame/Cyberpunk2020'': Justified example: because of [[PostPeakOil energy crisis issues]], many vehicles in the setting utilize a blend of high-powered alcohol named CHOOH-2 as fuel.

Sometimes this is used as a gag about how ridiculously strong the liquor is. Another common gag is that the drink is so potent, using it as fuel actually causes the engine to run ''better'' (or at least faster) than it should be able to with regular fuel.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': All of the robots are fueled by alcohol which many of them, especially Bender, take advantage of to drink incredible proportions (cleaner alternatives like Mineral oil exist, but most prefer Beer). Without alcohol in their system, they would begin to act like a drunk person. Its a plot point in one episode, that them inefficiently burning alcohol is the reason the future still has problems with Global warming.

However, ethanol fuel still has issues and pitfalls that have prevented its worldwide adoption. First, because alcohol is usually produced by fermenting agricultural crops, there is a very real possibility that a widespread adoption of ethanol fuel might greatly drive up demand of staple foods such as potatoes, corn, wheat or sugarcane and thus greatly increase their price, which could compromise the entire world's food supply; and second, in order to run on alcohol, a whole series of engine modifications must be undertaken such as ignition timing re-mapping, special fuel lines, special injectors and alcohol-resistant seals and treatments.

[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel Ethanol fuel]] for automobiles has been around since many decades -- at least since 1978, when [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_147 Fiat's Brazilian branch developed an ethanol-fueled Fiat 127]] in an attempt to cope with the Oil Crisis -- [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel_in_Brazil with Brazil leading the way in this type of fuel]] by taking advantage of its vast expanses of sugarcane that can be easily distilled into cane alcohol. While ethyl alcohol packs less energy per volume than gasoline, its many similar physical properties (low density, low boiling point, high volatility and very high anti-knocking index) have made it a very much viable fuel source for combustion engines, which can even be modified to use both gasoline and alcohol indistinguishably, to the point that all cars in Brazil are legally required to run on at least E25 (25% alcohol and 75% gasoline).