E20 is safe for use in any vehicle plying on Indian roads, said the chief of the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) Reji Mathai, on Saturday (August 30, 2025), referring to a 2021 study it carried out but refused to provide further details of the report which is not yet in public domain.

The report is “submitted to authorities,” Mr. Mathai said at a press conference when pressed for details of its content. “E20 is safe enough for any vintage of the vehicle plying on Indian roads,” he asserted while adding that there had been no instance of breakdown reported yet. He said that both two-wheelers and cars of 2-3 Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) had been tested on a total distance of 1 lakh km, and there was no impact found on non-E20 vehicles due to E20 blend or petrol blended with 20% ethanol.

Prashant Banerjee, Executive Director at the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, assured that both car warranties and insurance would be honoured by car manufacturers and insurance providers, and the OEMs were in the process of writing to customers on this issue. 

’Misplaced information’*

Refuting assertions about a sizeable drop in mileage, the chief of the car makers’ association stated, considering the intrinsic nature of the fuel, there could be a “marginal drop”. He explained that the one-fifth ethanol blend, which holds a calorific value 30-35% lower, can only translate to a loss of a maximum of 6% in the base fuel’s energy output. Mr. Banerjee, however, sought to emphasise that the loss of energy can be mitigated. He held that several factors determine the mileage of a vehicle, underlining that vehicles in testing conditions prompted an efficiency loss of 2-4%.

“Any entity asserting (efficiency loss) by 20-50%, please be clear that this is a misinformation campaign,” he stated. Mr. Banerjee relayed the same for assertions about insurance and warranties on vehicles. He emphasised they would be honoured irrespective of the fuel compatibility envisaged in a vehicle manual.

No increase in price of vehicles

Speaking to The Hindu, Vikram Gulati, Executive Vice-President at Toyota Kirloskar Motors, said there shall be no increase in the price of vehicles to make them E20 compliant. “Complete E20 compliance came in starting April 1 this year. All the fine-tuning and emission testing have been done,” he explained, adding, “Thus, all vehicles being sold now all stand certified. So, there is no problem.”

Higher procurement costs of ethanol not helping lower fuel prices

Responding to queries about no visible impact of blending on retail prices of fuel, P.S. Ravi, Advisor at the Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry, underlined that the procurement price of ethanol has been much higher than the price of petrol. However, he sought to emphasise that the oil industry has been able to maintain the price levels as earlier notwithstanding upward fluctuations in the recent past.

Additionally, Mr. Gulati held that the benefits of the blending program must be considered from a wider perspective. He pointed to savings in foreign exchange and current account deficit, more money accruing to farmers, and investments back into the auto sector towards green technologies. “This (the saved money) is helping our country transition to a sustainable future without creating any disruption to our economy and creating a future which is self-reliant not only in the realm of energy but also technology and raw materials,” he stated.