Shillong, Nov 16: If you are driving a petrol engine vehicle in India at present you are probably doing terrible harm to it without even knowing it.
Since August, the central government has mandated that all petrol sold in the country is E20, i.e. it is actually a mixture of 80 percent petrol and 20 percent ethanol.
Such mixtures are not unusual. In fact, drivers were using an E10 blend before August.
However, laboratory studies show ethanol sharply increases corrosion in fuel systems, especially above 10 percent blends. Ethanol attracts water, reacts with acids and speeds up corrosion of pipes, tanks and connectors.
Manufacturers can design vehicles to be better able to cope with the ill effects of higher ethanol blends but most vehicles in India are not ready for E20.
By December 2023, India had 38.5 crore registered vehicles and data from the central government shows that around 84 percent of new vehicles run on petrol.
An Ethanol Roadmap issued in 2021 by NITI Aayog, a government think tank, said most Indian two-wheelers and passenger vehicles were designed for pure petrol or up to E10. Higher blends mean changes to engine materials and tuning.
The auto industry’s representative body, SIAM, said in December 2022 that E20-ready car materials would roll out from 2023 and engines tuned to E20 fuel from 2025. Most vehicles built before then could only run on E20 with added risk.
Without knowing it, drivers are voiding warranties by using higher ethanol blends, which are now impossible to avoid, and going against the terms of their insurance policies too.
Engine damage from fuel incompatibility is not covered by standard motor vehicle insurance. Several big carmakers, such as Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Kia, have added disclaimers to their terms that state that warranties will be voided if high ethanol blends are used.
So far, only Maruti Suzuki has promised to launch an E20 upgrade kit for its cars, costing up to Rs 7,000. Previously, SIAM had said that retrofitting existing vehicles was impractical.
So, why has the central government mandated E20? On the one hand, ethanol is touted for being green – it is made from crops, such as sugarcane or maize, etc and therefore is thought to be less damaging to the environment than pure petrol. Ethanol crops can also be grown domestically whereas most of India’s petrol is imported, causing an outflow of hard currency.
These arguments, however, are questionable. Crop production for ethanol drives up prices of edible crops, uses extra water in an already parched country and is forcing India to import certain agricultural produce.
The Union Transport Minister has rejected concerns and blamed what he called the petrol lobby for stoking fears. The Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas also maintained that E20 does not affect insurance or cause engine damage, though mileage may dip slightly.
Whether there really are positives or negatives to E20, though, is a moot point at the moment – for petrol vehicle drivers there is no choice other than to use it and hope for the best.
