Govt pushes ethanol blending beyond 20%; vehicle impact remains concern

NEW DELHI: Amid govt’s strong pitch to increase ethanol blending in petrol to cut import dependence in view of the West Asia crisis-triggered energy supply, what remains a sticky issue is how the fuel would impact the large share of vehicles that are not even fully compatible with the current E20 (20%) blend.

Higher ethanol blending is expected to impact performance of vehicles manufactured before April 2023, and the NITI Aayog report on E20 roadmap has flagged that vehicles designed for E10 and calibrated for E20 are likely to experience a 1%–2% drop in mileage.

A member involved in the report said that while transition to higher ethanol blending is aligned with India’s energy security, there is a need to address issues that concern vehicle owners. Moving beyond E20 will require upgrades in vehicle technology and supportive policy measures to avoid adverse impact on consumers, he added.

Govt has said the push for ethanol blended petrol (EBP) programme has helped India save 4.5 crore barrels of crude annually and lowering foreign exchange outflow of around Rs 1.65 lakh crore so far.

Most passenger vehicles manufactured between 2012 and March 2023 were designed or certified as E10 compliant, while those produced from April 2023 onwards are E20 material compliant — designed to handle 20% ethanol-blended petrol. Vehicles sold from April 2025 are fully E20 compliant.

The Niti report also noted that automobile industry lobby group Siam had suggested that to offset the drop in fuel efficiency for consumers, there should be tax incentives on E10 and E20 fuels. However, govt has not offered any such incentive yet.

In the past one week, both the power and petroleum ministries have twice indicated govt’s intent to increase blending as supply chains remain disrupted due to the crisis.

While last week power ministry officials indicated vehicle manufacturers to gear up for higher blending of ethanol in petrol during a consultation on the next phase of fuel efficiency norms, Sujata Sharma, a joint secretary in petroleum ministry, on Wednesday, said, “...it is an idea whose time has arrived”. She added stakeholder consultations are going on.

Experts said countries like Brazil offer solutions to these issues. “Fuel stations should have separate dispensers for E20 and higher blend petrol giving choice to vehicle owners. The best option is to promote Flex Fuel Vehicles that can run on up to 100% ethanol,” said one of them.

Govt to notify testing norms for Flex Fuel Vehicles

In a move to allow OEMs to manufacture vehicles that can run on 100% ethanol (E100), govt will soon lay down the test requirements for vehicles compliant for E85 to E100 fuel or Flex Fuel Vehicles (FFVs). While the road transport ministry, in Dec 2022, had notified the “applicability of test requirements” for vehicles that can run on petrol with 5% to 85% ethanol blending, a draft notification to replace the condition of E85 to “E85 or more” was published in June last year. But it could not be finalised.

Though most of the vehicle manufacturers have come up with prototypes of FFVs, commercial production is yet to begin. Engines that are designed to run on E100 can operate on lower ethanol blends from E20 onwards.