There is nothing far fetched about two fuel pumps not working. They are ABSOLUTE JUNK right out of the box.
I had a new one fail in under 300 miles. The replacement failed to pump one drop of gas as soon as it was installed. Many others on this forum have experienced the same issues.
None of my vehicles have electric helper pumps, either. A properly rebuilt , mechanical pump will do the job just fine.
You're barking up the wrong tree if you're focusing on ethanol