Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has accused a “petroleum lobby” of spreading disinformation about blending 20 per cent ethanol with petrol being corrosive to engines, calling the claims as “completely false”.
Dismissing claims that many vehicles are not E20 compatible, Gadkari in an interview with Moneycontrol said that the authorities have verified everything on ground.
“This is completely false. We have done trials on old cars. In Brazil… they do 27 percent blending but there have been no complaints. There are some people in the petroleum lobby who are spreading this...we have verified everything on technical ground,” he was quoted as saying by the news publication.
India achieved achieved its target of 20 per cent ethanol blending with petrol five years ahead of schedule, the Indian Sugar & Bio-energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA) said in July. However, some media reports and consumers have raised questions on the efficiency of the fuel, which has been claimed to corrode engines and reduce mileage.
Experts have also flagged concerns that 20 per cent ethanol blending with petrol has an impact of the overall performance of the vehicles. Service centres have further claimed that non-E20-compliant vehicles, which still make up for a large chunk of cars on Indian roads, are facing more frequent engine wear and gasket failures.
Concerns have also been flagged that the E20 blending programme risks...
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has accused a “petroleum lobby” of spreading disinformation about blending 20 per cent ethanol with petrol being corrosive to engines, c...