India's auto industry defends ethanol fuel mandate amid backlash

MUMBAI: Indian government and auto industry officials on Saturday defended the mandatory rollout of petrol blended with 20% ethanol, saying years of testing and service data showed no evidence of widespread vehicle damage, despite public concerns over lower fuel efficiency and engine safety.

The fuel, known as E20, has faced rising criticism on social media in recent days, with motorists questioning whether older vehicles designed for lower ethanol blends could suffer corrosion, wear or reduced performance.

Automakers including Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotorCorp and Toyota Kirloskar Motor said even older vehicles can run safely on E20. Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest carmaker, said it had serviced more than 15 million older cars over the past two years that were not certified for E20 and found no fuel-related problems.

“As a manufacturer, we have tested E10 cars which were prevalent before 2023 on E20 fuel for all parameters and we have not found anything of concern,” Rahul Bharti, Maruti Suzuki’s senior executive officer for corporate affairs, said at a joint press conference with government officials.

Industry officials acknowledged a minor trade-off: E20 reduces fuel efficiency by about 3-3.5% because of its lower energy content. However, they said the fuel’s higher octane rating can help carmakers design future engines with higher compression ratios, which could improve performance, torque, drivability and even fuel efficiency.

Officials also rejected viral claims that E20 had caused engine failures, saying at least one widely shared case was linked to contaminated fuel rather than standard E20.

They added that E20 is the highest ethanol blend currently tested for regular petrol vehicles and said any move to higher blends would need fresh trials.