The Centre has amended rules to allow E100 fuel in flex-fuel vehicles, raising concerns about engine performance and mileage. The new rule aims at reducing India’s dependency on fossil fuels.
The Union government has implemented changes to the Motor Vehicles Rules, allowing vehicles manufactured for flex-fuel operation to run on E100, a fuel primarily composed of ethanol. The notification was issued by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on Friday and came into force on Monday.
The amended rules enable these vehicles to operate with both E100 and E85, which contains 85% ethanol and 15% petrol. However, regular petrol vehicles, including those designed for E20 fuel (containing 20% ethanol and 80% petrol), are not authorized to use E85 or E100.
Flex-fuel vehicles can run on different blends of petrol and ethanol. In June, Maruti Suzuki India introduced the Wagon R Flex Fuel, designed to run on blends ranging from E20 to E100. Other automakers, including Toyota, Tata Motors, and Hyundai, are also developing flex-fuel vehicles for the Indian market.
Under the Ethanol Blended Petrol programme, the government mandates that all petrol sold in India be blended with 20% ethanol, a substance derived from sugarcane and food grain. The policy aims at reducing India’s reliance on fossil fuels, lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and boosting income for sugarcane farmers.
However, consumers have complained that the new fuel mix damages engines and reduces their mileage. An opinion poll by LocalCircles published on July 5 showed that 53% of the surveyed petrol vehicle owners said that they believe that the government’s handling of the E20 rollout was ‘disastrous’ or ‘ineffective’.
In July, the Union government acknowledged that petrol blended with 20% ethanol can reduce fuel efficiency by 2% to 6% in vehicles designed to run on fuel blended with 10% ethyl alcohol. Despite this, it said that the suggestion that petrol not blended with ethanol and E10 should be available at fuel stations alongside E20 ‘ignores the realities’ of India’s fuel distribution network.
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