E20 petrol: Good, bad and better. Findings from a real study

The latest headline maker in the Indian automobile market is E20 petrol, which has petrol blended with 20 per cent ethanol. Confusion around this fuel and its impact has been rising fast among motorists. Despite the government's assurance, motorists are sceptical that the fuel will damage their vehicles in the long run. Adding to the confusion in this situation are the influencers, who, in many cases, have no connection to the automobile industry or technical expertise.

As we have already reported that automobile engineers working with various major automakers have already admitted that there will be a fuel efficiency drop between two to five per cent, depending on the vehicles, due to E20 fuel. They have also admitted that there are risks of damage to various components of vehicles, but that will occur in the long term, not immediately.

In the meantime, no automaker has come up with facts or realistic findings of E20's impact. This has further raised the anxiety of the vehicle owners. Meanwhile, a Bengaluru-based vehicle tuning company, Harmonixx Tuning, has come up with its findings, which explain the impact of E20 in a detailed manner.

The firm claims to have extensively tested ethanol-blended fuels since October 2020. According to them, if you own a car produced after 2015 and it is fuel-injected, there is nothing to worry about. This comes in contradiction with the perception widely spread that vehicles built after 2023 are vulnerable to damage in their critical powertrain components.

Also, what no one is paying attention to is that E20 is not being sold at the fuel stations around us abruptly. The only ruckus is because the government has announced that India has achieved the target of E20 five years before the original deadline of 2030. The ground reality is that ethanol-blended petrol has been sold across the country for quite some time. The ethanol content in the motor fuel has increased gradually. In fact, E20 petrol itself has been sold in India for the last years. Only the fuel is now available across all the fuel stations in India, which was not the case earlier.

Petrol sold in India prior to 2021 was just petrol combined with other additives like injector cleaners, octane boosters, dye to help identify the fuel, detergents, etc. While the central government's proposal to blend ethanol in petrol had begun back in September 2002, serious blending started only after the Covid-19 pandemic, once the restrictions on ethyl alcohol were over. The earliest ethanol blend recorded in India was with Power 99, which had E07-E08 (a seven to eight per cent ethanol blend) in late 2022, and XP95, which had E05 in April 2023.

Now, leaving the history and timeline, let's come to the advantages and disadvantages of the ethanol-blended petrol.

Ethanol-blended petrol: What's good about it?

While the government has been lobbying for ethanol blending and citing many reasons, including the reduced import bill, lesser dependency on crude oil and reduced cost of fuel, let's just focus on the technical aspects, not economic ones.

Ethanol may not be the regular fuel for vehicles, as we have known so far in India, but there are some advantages of this being blended into petrol. Ethanol has a much higher Research Octane Number (RON) rating compared to petrol. Because of the additional RON, ethanol has a higher knock resistance than regular petrol. It also helps reduce charge temperature, emission of Carbon Monoxide (CO) and Hydrocarbon (HC). It helps reduce soot formation, which is a deep black powdery or flaky substance consisting largely of amorphous carbon, produced by the incomplete burning of organic matter.

Ethanol-blended petrol: What's bad about it?

It's not that ethanol has only advantages, but using petrol blended with this comes with a lot of disadvantages as well. Ethanol has a much lower energy density compared to regular petrol. This means you need to burn nearly 33 per cent more fuel to achieve the same power, which is why you are seeing a drop in your vehicle's fuel efficiency. This fuel economy drop could range between three to four per cent while using E10 fuel, and in the case of E20, it could be between six to eight per cent, depending on multiple factors.

In older vehicles, mostly the non-fuel-injected ones, the materials used for rubber hoses, gaskets, seals, etc., might not be as durable as those manufactured later due to the use of E20. In such cases, the vehicle owners will have to opt for the replacement of those parts. However, with the vehicle ageing, replacement of various parts is common anyway, as they become brittle over time. This happens regardless of whether pure petrol is used or blended fuel.

Another key disadvantage of ethanol is its hygroscopic nature, which means it can absorb moisture or water. If ethanol-blended fuel comes in contact with water, ethanol mixes with water completely. If water enters the engine, the pistons can compress ethanol but cannot compress water. This is how a hydrolock can occur. However, hydrolocking is extremely rare.

Ethanol could create trouble while starting an engine in a very cold climate. However, that could happen if the engine is being run on high ethanol blends, like in excess of E50. In most parts of India, such temperatures are not common. Also, India has just reached the 20 per cent fuel blending threshold.

E20 petrol: What could be better?

While there is so much ruckus about E20 petrol, fuelling the confusion among the motorists, the real question and concern should be that the petrol pumps should make different types of petrol available for the motorists to choose from. Besides E20, there should be an option to buy E5 and E10 petrol as well, as these work better with older cars.

Many countries across the world that have been using ethanol-blended fuel offer different types of petrol to motorists. This should be the approach of the government.

E20 petrol: Which engines can run safely on it?

If you own a car that is older than 2015, it is already a decade old, which means you should be doing preventive maintenance anyway. These include injector replacement, fuel filter and fuel pump changes, along with replacing hoses, gaskets, and seals, which will naturally wear out over time. Almost all the naturally aspirated petrol engines built after 2015 can run safely on E20 fuel, claims the tuning firm.

HT Auto had detailed and in-depth conversations with automobile engineers who have confirmed that cars built by the most popular passenger vehicle manufacturers in India are already compliant with E30 petrol (30 per cent ethanol blended petrol).

This means even if you have purchased a car that has been built, say in 2020, it is capable of running on E20 and compliant to up to E30 fuel.

Just make sure you perform the periodic maintenance as prescribed by the vehicle manufacturer. Also, practice preventive maintenance as and when necessary. Some of the preventive maintenance includes changing engine oil every 4,000 km if using mineral oil. In case of synthetic oil, change oil every 7,500-8,000 km. Also, change spark plugs after every 15,000-20,000 km.

E20 petrol: Should you be worried?

The tuning firm claims that if the car is manufactured after 2015 and it is fuel-injected, there is nothing to worry about. The vehicle's ECU is smart enough to adjust the fuel trims accordingly, and will maintain the air–fuel ratio (AFR) it is programmed to target.

The All India Petroleum Dealers Association (AIPDA), which is the national body of petroleum dealers of all three major government-owned oil marketing companies, including Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), in an official statement, has said that the dealers have not received any complaint from customers, claiming that the engine was damaged due to the use of E20 fuel.

Social media hype is just that - hype. The influencers telling you the downside of the E20 and ethanol possibly have absolutely no technical knowledge about the internal combustion engine (ICE) and the technologies around it.

Just remember one thing: using E20, your vehicle's engine cannot die. The only real downside of using E20 is a drop in fuel efficiency, but again, that depends on multiple factors, not just the type of fuel you are using.

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