Mileage woes, engine damage worries: As E20 fuel blend sparks off backlash, Brazil's calibrated approach offers a template

Indian Express

4 days ago

India has billed its ambitious push for E20 petrol — 20 per cent ethanol blended fuel — and a progressive move towards E27 to be a green leap forward. For car owners, especially those driving older models, the transition is proving to be a leap of faith instead, amid growing concerns around falling mileage and potential engine damage. Sections of increasingly vocal vehicle owners are now saying they weren't given a choice in this fuel transition or made aware of the potential ramifications of increased blending. A decades-long push for blended fuel in Brazil may have a template for how India could move forward.
Brazil's widespread use of flex-fuel vehicles, strong government mandates, visible price incentives, and robust consumer education helped mainstream higher ethanol blends like E20 and above. The real question is whether India can learn from these strategies to boost E20 acceptance and effectiveness.
Over the past five decades, Brazil has worked to create a viable alternative to petrol by using more sugarcane-based fuels in the mix. Brazil's ethanol programme, which kicked-off in the 1970s, was in response to the uncertainties of the oil market.
At nearly every petrol pump in Brazil now, people have an option to either choose between blended petrol, which typically includes 18-27 per cent ethanol, and E100, which is pure hydrous ethanol.
Alongside that, Brazilians also got carmakers to usher in 'flexible fuel' cars that run on either ethanol or petrol and allow the consumer to fill up with whichever option is cheaper – often ethanol, which is cheaper by 25-35 per cent compared to blended gasoline. This was done concomitantly with as fuel blends were increased from E10.
The flex fuel cars were a big hit with Brazilian consumers, largely because government price support made the blended fuel cheaper than petrol at the pump. Ethanol also improves acceleration, an advantage in a country where Formula One racing is a national obsession. By the late 1980s, nine out of every 10 new cars sold in Brazil ran on ethanol alone. When Brazilians drive to a fuel pump to tank up, they get a choice of fuel mixes at different price points. In India, that is far from the case.
In fact, all the while Brazil was focusing on blended fuel and ethanol, it implemented its policy in a phase wise manner, to ensure that people who had bought vehicles prior, did not feel at a disadvantage, given their vehicles may face greater harm by blended fuel.
In contrast, India lacks flex fuel cars or vehicles, while there are concerns that filling E20 fuel in regular internal combustion engine vehicles older than 2023, could see quicker damage owing to factors like corrosion — ethanol has a higher water content — and a substantial drop in performance and fuel economy. Vehicle owners do not often even know the level of blending they're receiving at a petrol pump, since very few of them actually tell their customers that or have a display. And unlike their counterparts in Brazil, Indian vehicle owners are also yet to receive blended fuel at a cheaper cost than pure gasoline.
Among Indian car owners, particularly, the E20 mandate, with no disclosures and choice available at petrol pumps, is being seen as a government diktat.
The use of higher ethanol mixes in non-flex fuel cars has its disadvantages. These cars are hard to start on winter mornings because ethanol burns at a higher temperature than petrol. While a fuel with 10 per cent ethanol makes little difference to a car's performance, anything above that is said to cause problems in engines that aren't specifically built for it. The mixture can corrode metal engine parts because of its higher water content. This is especially true for older engines and the ones used on two wheelers, where high grade aluminum or steel casts are not used for the engine block.
A senior technical expert at a major automaker told this paper that there are no conclusive studies into the long-term impact blended fuel can have on non-compliant vehicles, but flagged that it could definitely have an impact on the engine's life, its various rubber parts, valves, and piston heads, among others. 'We don't know if it will be a catastrophe if one keeps putting E20 fuel in an E10 compliant car, but certainly, the long-term impact will be there,' this person said.
While cars that have been sold in India since 2023 are largely ready for E20 fuel, those that have been sold prior to that — and are still relatively new cars — are at a particular disadvantage. The Indian Express went through the owner's manual of some popular cars in the country for model years before the 2023 cut-off date, and found that manufacturers have explicitly mentioned to only use a maximum of E10 fuel in them.
For instance, the manuals of the Hyundai Grand i10 Nios and i20 sold between August 2019 to August 2023 and November 2020 to October 2023 respectively, state: 'Do not use gasohol (ethanol blended gasoline) containing more than 10 per cent ethanol'. In fact, the manuals also say that vehicle damage or driving problems may not be covered under the manufacturer's warranty if they result from the use of fuel containing more than 10 per cent ethanol.
Similarly, in the case of the Mahindra Thar 4WD, the manual says: 'Use only commercially available Petrol fuel conforming to IS 2796: 2017 BS-VI specification or equivalent (with Maximum 10 per cent ethanol content – E10 fuel)'.
Hyundai, Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki and the ministries of petroleum and road transport did not respond to a request for comment.
In a social media post earlier this month, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry (MoPNG) played down growing concerns around E20 fuel's impact on older cars, saying they were 'largely unfounded' not backed by 'scientific evidence or expert analysis'.
The MoPNG acknowledged the drop in fuel economy due to the use of E20 fuel — blend of 80 parts petrol and 20 parts ethanol — but said that the decrease was only 'marginal'. India achieved 20 per cent ethanol blending just last month, five years ahead of the original target. The 20 per cent blending aim had earlier been advanced from 2030 to 2025-26, given the success the country tasted in achieving 10 per cent blending levels ahead of schedule.
Soumyarendra Barik is Special Correspondent with The Indian Express and reports on the intersection of technology, policy and society. With over five years of newsroom experience, he has reported on issues of gig workers' rights, privacy, India's prevalent digital divide and a range of other policy interventions that impact big tech companies. He once also tailed a food delivery worker for over 12 hours to quantify the amount of money they make, and the pain they go through while doing so. In his free time, he likes to nerd about watches, Formula 1 and football. ... Read More
Anil Sasi is National Business Editor with the Indian Express and writes on business and finance issues. He has worked with The Hindu Business Line and Business Standard and is an alumnus of Delhi University. ... Read More