A 2021 NITI Aayog roadmap on ethanol blending shows that the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) had sought continued availability of E10 petrol alongside E20, warning that withdrawing the lower-ethanol fuel could create compatibility, safety, fuel-efficiency and drivability concerns for vehicles already on Indian roads.
The recommendations were submitted by SIAM during stakeholder consultations for NITI Aayog’s Roadmap for Ethanol Blending in India: 2020-25, a report prepared in 2021 as India charted its transition towards higher ethanol blends. The document has resurfaced amid a fresh debate over E20 petrol after the Press Information Bureau (PIB) rejected claims that the fuel causes widespread engine damage.
In inputs reproduced in Annexure D of the report, SIAM argued that E10 should continue to be available as a “protection grade” fuel even after the introduction of E20.
“To ensure fuel availability for existing vehicles and assurance to customers, parallel dispensing of a protection grade E10 fuel is a must,” SIAM said. The industry body noted that countries transitioning to higher ethanol blends had continued to offer lower-ethanol fuel options during the transition period.
SIAM further argued that retrofitting older vehicles to run optimally on higher ethanol blends would be an enormous challenge because of the large number of vehicle variants and fuel-system configurations already in use.
“Retro-fitment on existing Vehicles is a mammoth task,” the submission stated, adding that developing upgraded components for numerous vehicle variants and ensuring customers adopted them would be an unrealistic exercise.
The automobile industry body’s concerns extended beyond fuel economy.
In its submission, SIAM warned that if E10 was discontinued and higher ethanol blends became the only fuel available, a large number of vehicles would be forced to operate on fuel for which they were neither materially compatible nor performance-optimised.
“This will cause the entire population of vehicles available by 2028 un-usable as they may neither have material compatibility nor efficiency / performance optimised. This may cause material degradation, which could lead to fuel seepage/leakage and hence a safety issue, besides FE loss and poor drivability, especially for low powered 2W will not be acceptable to customer,” the submission stated.
SIAM therefore urged the continued availability of E10 alongside higher blends.
“SIAM strongly requests parallel dispensing of higher blends along with provision of protection grade E10 fuel,” the submission said.
The industry body also flagged fuel-efficiency concerns associated with E20.
According to the submission, E20 was expected to result in a fuel-efficiency reduction of around 6% because of ethanol’s lower calorific value. While manufacturers could make hardware and calibration changes to future vehicles to recover some of the loss, SIAM described the absence of E10 alongside E20 as a “critical concern” for the existing vehicle fleet.
“Additionally, non-availability of E10 fuel in parallel is a critical concern for existing pool of vehicles,” the submission stated.
SIAM argued that maintaining parallel supplies of E10 would allow owners of legacy vehicles to continue using fuel for which their vehicles were originally designed and calibrated, while newer E20-compatible vehicles gradually entered the market.
SIAM also cautioned against introducing intermediate fuel blends such as E12 and E15, saying vehicles then being sold were materially compatible only up to E10 and that multiple fuel transitions within a short period could create additional challenges.
The recommendations formed part of consultations conducted by a NITI Aayog-led expert committee comprising representatives from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Indian Oil Corporation, the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) and other stakeholders. SIAM participated in the committee’s deliberations in January 2021.
The final roadmap backed a phased transition to E20 while acknowledging the need for vehicle compatibility measures and engine modifications for higher ethanol blends.
The report cited a joint study conducted by ARAI, Indian Oil Corporation and the Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP), which found that fuel economy declined by up to 6% with E20. However, the study reported no severe engine malfunction, stalling, abnormal wear of engine components or deterioration of engine oil during testing.
The roadmap also noted that fuel efficiency could decline by 6-7% in certain four-wheelers designed for lower ethanol blends and by 3-4% in some two-wheelers, although the impact could be reduced through engine modifications and calibration changes.
Notably, the roadmap itself envisaged continued availability of E10 as a “protection fuel” during the transition period, recommending pan-India availability of E10 to meet the requirements of existing vehicles as the country moved towards higher ethanol blends.
It may be noted that the government rejected claims that E20 petrol was causing widespread engine damage, saying the fuel had been introduced only after extensive testing by SIAM, ARAI, Indian Oil and vehicle manufacturers. The government maintained that there was no evidence of a widespread pattern of engine failures linked to E20.
While the government has defended E20 as safe and adequately tested, the 2021 roadmap shows that automakers had simultaneously argued for continued E10 availability, citing compatibility, fuel-efficiency, safety and drivability concerns for the existing vehicle fleet during the transition.
– Ends
