The country?s automotive industry has expressed serious concerns over the government?s plan to introduce 10% ethanol-blended petrol (E10) from October 1, 2008. In letters to the ministries of petroleum and road transport, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), on behalf of the automobile industry, has warned that components of many vehicles may have to be changed as they are not compliant to the 10% ethanol-blended fuel.
SIAM said the move will affect the auto industry the most and the petroleum ministry has had no talks with players in the sector so far. SIAM has requested the government to involve the auto industry in preparing a roadmap for successful introduction of E10 so that the industry can be ready with fuel-compatible vehicles.
Barring some new vehicles, most are designed to meet BS-II norms where they operate with 88 RON normal gasoline and 88 RON gasoline with 5% ethanol blend. ?Unlike the 5% blend, the 10% one would impact vehicle performance if the percentage of ethanol varies significantly. The performance, driveability and durability of components are as per vehicle manufacturers parameters with E-05 (5% ethanol) blends,? SAIM said.
It further said that while some of the recently-produced vehicles are E 10 compliant, the impact of such a blend on vehicles produced before 2002 needs to be examined as there may be issues relating to driveability and many models in the market may have to change components which come into contact with the blended petrol.
The dissatisfaction level of the customer is expected to be very high if E10 is used in existing vehicles, which have not been designed for the such blended fuel. SIAM said as optimisation of 87 million vehicles on the road is not possible, two grades of fuel may be required.
Additionally, it has been pointed out that there is a fuel economy loss of approximately 3% due to E10 usage. Problems of high rust on fuel tank, mufflers due to use of E10 is also expected.
The design toughness presently does not exist for such a blend, especially for rubber components.
