Industry experts from India’s energy and automobile sectors have said that the rollout of E20 ethanol-blended petrol was taken forward only after rigorous testing, including on older vehicles.
At a press conference organised in New Delhi by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, along with the Ministry of Heavy Industries and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on Saturday, 6 July, experts said E20 fuel poses no cause for concern for vehicle owners.
The briefing was addressed by representatives from Engineers India Limited, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, TVS Motor Company, Hyundai Motor India and Bajaj Auto, according to a statement by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor Country Head and Executive Vice President Vikram Gulati said the automobile industry is among the most strongly regulated sectors, with vehicles undergoing testing and certification by independent, globally accredited agencies before and after market introduction.
He said ethanol is a high-performance and clean fuel, which has been in use since the early 1900s and has also been used in Formula racing.
According to Gulati, the decision to move to E20 was taken only after rigorous testing on older vehicles.
He also clarified that the recently launched E85 dispensing stations are meant only for flex-fuel vehicles.
On questions related to the independence of testing agencies, Gulati said testing protocols are internationally standardised.
He said India is party to UNECE and testing agencies are accredited, globally compliant and also test vehicles meant for export.
Maruti Suzuki Senior Executive Officer, Corporate Affairs, Rahul Bharti gave a “statement of confidence” to customers.
He said vehicles designed for E10 have been tested with E20 fuel across all parameters and no areas of concern were found.
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Bharti said Maruti Suzuki serviced 2.84 crore cars in FY 2025-26. Of these, more than 1.5 crore vehicles were over three years old and were not E20-certified.
He said no E20-related issues of corrosion, wear and tear or damage to component life were reported from the field.
On mileage, Bharti said the calorific value of E20 is lower than E10 by about 3% to 3.5%, and the mileage impact is limited to that extent.
He said that for a car giving 20 km per litre, the impact would be roughly 0.6 km per litre.
He added that tyre pressure, driving pattern, correct gear usage, acceleration, braking and maintenance cause greater variation in mileage.
Bharti said the mileage impact is more than compensated by better acceleration, better anti-knocking performance and lower pollution compared with pure petrol.
He also clarified that no retrofitment kit is being offered in the market, and such solutions are currently limited to research and development.
Former Engineers India Limited Chairman and Managing Director Vartika Shukla said the ethanol blending programme was structured after deliberations with stakeholders and is supported by scientific evidence and extensive testing by automobile manufacturers.
She said E20 fuel conforms to BIS standards and BS-VI emission norms and is uniformly available across retail outlets in the country.
Hero MotoCorp Chief Business Officer Ashutosh Varma said the company has analysed extensive service data and found no incidence of higher damage in vehicles running on E20 compared with earlier fuels.
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