Automakers' body urged govt to retain E10 after E20 rollout, shows 2021 NITI report
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
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. Read Full Story 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.
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