[TusharK]

According to media reports, the government is exploring a plan to blend 5% ethanol in diesel.



The government has been making great strides to reduce our crude oil imports by increasing the ethanol content in fuel. The aim is to achieve 20% ethanol blending in petrol within the next 2 years.

In May, the average ethanol blending in petrol exceeded 15% for the first time. This was made possible thanks to an increase in biofuel purchases. With ethanol blending in diesel, the government aims to reduce our crude oil imports further and save foreign exchange.

The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) has already conducted trials of ethanol-blended diesel on BS3 and BS6 buses. The tests showed that fuel consumption was slightly lower than that of regular diesel. Further trials are expected to be undertaken by public-sector oil companies.

Source: ET

Link to Team-BHP News

[turbospooler]

The incentives set by the ministry and for the ministry are very bad for consumers.
The Ethanol blended petrol usage issues have been documented here on T-BHP and many customers will be bearing the brunt of those ill-set incentives.
The Ethanol blended petrol is reducing mileage, causing engine issues and lower power outputs.
The blending is done to reduce our fuel import bill, but lower fuel economy means increased fuel usage! Plus, the harm which sugarcane causes to the water table is well known.
Very surprising to see blended diesel improving consumption. I will only believe if there are other independent studies which share the same outcome.

[Deamon0508]

It's simply beyond my comprehension as to why they can't figure out what else could 'reduce our crude oil imports further and save foreign exchange'? Right off the top of my head:
At metro city level

1. Improve public transit systems: People would much rather chill aboard a comfortable, reliable and stress-free commute than have to endure metro city traffic. How much of oil do we all collectively burn stuck in traffic every time we head out?
2. Have better quality roads and scientific roadways: Having asphalt on a sort of level ground isn't an efficient road by any stretch of imagination. Bottlenecks abound all across the city scape, any and all infrastructure projects just solve a bottleneck, and moves it further down the road. Connected to the point above.

At inter-city level

1. . Invest in high-speed rail network: Reduce the dependence on a million trucks rolling out on highways every day crisscrossing states across the country.
2. . Incentivize logistics hub and spokes: If 357 trucks (arbitrary number) are going from New Delhi to Kolkata every single day, then having trucks make the journey is simply ridiculous.

For the consumption level

1. Introduce a congestion charge in metro cities: Disincentivize personal mobility during peak traffic hours, of course this will have to tie back to the #1. Any person commuting alone in a car must have alternate options for convenient daily journeys.
2. Rejig the automotive taxation: The sub-four meter excise rule gave us usable urban mobility, with the literal rise of the car, how much more fuel per capita have we started consuming now? If in case it is more or less the same, that's all the more reason to transfer these technological gains to smaller cars to get a massive multiplier in per capita consumption.

At the policy level

1. Have non-ridiculous zoning regulations, and manage infrastructure before signing off on projects: I can't say for the rest of the country, but atleast in Bangalore, the regulatory bodies seem to sign off on commercial and residential properties without a second thought on how exactly people would get to and from the place.
2. Stop the politician cavalcades: Public servants must take public transit, because without their skin in the game, things would never improve. These 37 Fortuner cavalcades burn fuel that would otherwise 'save our foreign exchange reserves'.
3. Reduce plastics for packaging: Since plastic packaging also comes from crude petroleum, levy a plastic surcharge on FMCG enterprises, to either collect or recycle (which has ridiculously high leakage anyway) or develop alternative packaging solutions.

I'm flabbergasted over the simple math, how much does an existing (assumed fit) vehicle consume fuel over the rest of its life, against the amount of resources it takes to create a new car to replace the-perfectly-good-vehicle-which-would-remain-so-if-not-for-the-pesky-ethanol-blending. By all means promote ethanol blending, but alteast give the consumer the option to purchase non-blended fuels.

If whatever years I've spent on this planet have any bearing, we're definitely not going to 'Vikasit Bharat' with these unreliable, knee-jerk, unscientific policy changes. Rant over. Peace out.

[arjan3]

Adding my 2 cents

Reduce the tax on hybrids. A regular Honda City mileage at 12 kmpl and a hybrid at 22 kmpl makes a lot of difference.

[Shreyans_Jain]

The government is hell bent on poisoning our vehicles. This is nothing but deliberate destruction of private property. The logic given is pretty dubious, and let’s not get into the environmental impact.

Fact is that petrol users,ie private personal use owners, are simply too unorganised and elsewhere occupied to make much noise. Something the government very smartly and fully exploited to push 20% adulterated petrol branded as E20. Let’s hope that transportation lobbies are united and organised enough to see the direct loss of assets that enthnol blended diesel willl cause, and do something about it.

[funnysaltbrick]

This push to Ethanol seems very.....rushed. If they want to deliver alternate fuelling, they should look to Brazil. There's 100% petrol (or Gasoline as they call it) and varied blends of Ethanol to E100.

It's a much better way to deliver a cleaner fuel and to reduce the dependency on overseas imports if that's what the GoI is aiming at. Money should be invested in PHEV vehicles and flex fuel vehicles. Kits for older engines should be offered as an alternate for cars older than a certain age. If you're gonna transition the nation to a cleaner subset of fuel, atleast do it properly and stop relying on knee-jerk calls.

[Thyag]

Some of my concerns related to engine are,

1) Ethanol being a solvent may loosen up deposits in old vehicles, which might cause break downs

2) Ethanol is more volatile than Diesel, so it may cause pump & injector cavitation which might increase wear & restart (hot) issues

3) Diesel known for higher energy when mixed with ethanol is going to have less energy comparatively, which might cause stalling in steep inclines, higher temperatures & higher altitudes

Emulsifiers, Additives are going to be introduced more while blending Diesel & Ethanol - so what will be those chemical reactions with the engine parts ?

Cetane Number is going to take a hit (Diesel above 40, Ethanol just 8 ), so more chemicals to be introduced to enhance it, their effects ?

Lubricity - Ethanol being corrosive, how well it bode with Diesel Engines ?

Above all, I am just worried about our testing methodology and the time frame it will take to get full results. I simply don't have faith in the system and authorities will do proper testing and will care about common man's movable assets !

[anjan_c2007]

A particular politician with a vested interest is pushing ethanol as the blending fuel to raise his own firm's turnover and profit. The import bill and other environmental factors are secondary and disguise as matters of public concern. They get the immediate nod to chop of thousands of fully grown trees for civil projects at one go, so where's the environmental concern going?

That the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) has already conducted trials of ethanol-blended diesel on BS3 and BS6 buses is farcical. ARAI will always toe the government’s line and is their obedient parrot.

The petrol ( cost Rs 100 plus per litre incl 18% GST) getting blended with ethanol ( cost Rs 65.00 per litre plus 5% GST) has not resulted in any price correction of petrol since 3 plus years. That's institutional transparency for us to see. And now the diesel (cost Rs 90.00 incl 18 % GST) getting blended with 5% ethanol will get the same institutional transparency, generating thousands of crores for the government by fleecing the public in broad daylight. And the politician also gets to mint his share.

There's a rider here. Most CV's use diesel and have organised associations. Many of these CV's do hundreds of kilometers a day. Hence, the ill effects on CV's will be sooner perceptible with rusted diesel tanks, hardened fuel pipes, injectors and their engines/ exhaust systems feeling the wrath. Once the older diesels start generating repair bills in the thousands (x10 in many cases), their associations would take proper action to make these vested interests relent.

[GTX+]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

The government is hell bent on poisoning our vehicles. This is nothing but deliberate destruction of private property. The logic given is pretty dubious, and let’s not get into the environmental impact.

Originally Posted by Deamon0508

I'm flabbergasted over the simple math, how much does an existing (assumed fit) vehicle consume fuel over the rest of its life, against the amount of resources it takes to create a new car to replace the-perfectly-good-vehicle-which-would-remain-so-if-not-for-the-pesky-ethanol-blending.

Originally Posted by turbospooler

The Ethanol blended petrol is reducing mileage, causing engine issues and lower power outputs.

If ethanol blending is not good for the vehicle and for the environment (sugarcane/water table), why are the environmentalists, NGOs, opposition parties, car manufacturers and oil producers not up in arms already? Is there any PIL filed yet by anyone of them or by any transport association or by an individual(s)?

Asking out of curiosity. Please don't take otherwise.

[Sebring]

Good point. Another question I would like to raise is if our import bill has reduced in the past years? It has only gone up higher

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

The petrol ( cost Rs 100 plus per litre incl 18% GST) getting blended with ethanol ( cost Rs 65.00 per litre plus 5% GST) has not resulted in any price correction of petrol since 3 plus years. That's institutional transparency for us to see. And now the diesel (cost Rs 90.00 incl 18 % GST) getting blended with 5% ethanol will get the same institutional transparency, generating thousands of crores for the government by fleecing the public in broad daylight.

[RaghuVis]

I saw a tweet on this today.

The finance ministry will keep on increasing taxes to ensure that you don't get to buy a car at an affordable price. Despite that, if you indeed buy, the Road Transport Ministry will ruin your engines to ensure that it does not run smoothly. Despite that, even if you buy and maintain a vehicle, the NGT will make sure you don't get to keep it for longer time.

[Abhidivine]

The problem is we can shout in the forums all we want, no one would care.

It's all about voting the scammers and looters out, getting on the street and demanding our rights.

Day by day, taxes are increasing, quality of life and quality of services are falling. Infrastructure across India is a joke with apathy across all gov sectors.

We as Indian citizens need to come together and fight against these corrupt governments. It is rotten to the core, from sebi to NHAI all just want to loot us, the hardworking honest rule following middle class.

[el lobo 6061]

Indian Oil is already selling IOC XtraGreen Diesel which contains 7% Bio-Diesel.

All modern diesel engines are B7 compatible.
E.g. My Hyundai Verna CRDi 2018 and BMW X1 20d 2018.

Govt should push for B7 Bio-Diesel instead of Ethanol.

I don't think any diesel cars in India are compatible with ethanol.

[Col Mehta]

This is BAD news!

As if petrol ethanol blending wasn't enough to damage cars bought with our hard earned money, these reckless creatures are now targeting diesel vehicles as well !!

I don't think the current diesel engines are compatible with any level of ethanol (or are they?). Will they meet the same fate as the older petrol engines? Will this potentially cripple the transport industry that primarily relies on diesel? This is becoming quite a farcical spectacle really.

Question for experts in the forum: With this news of ethanol blending, is it a bad time to consider a diesel engine? Will companies manufacture ethanol compatible diesel engines, just like E20 compliant petrol engines? Should one wait for that to happen?

[AMG Power]

This has got more to do with pandering to the sugarcane lobby plus forced obsolescence that would help the automotive industry than it has to do with lowering pollution.

With diesel however, he has bitten off more than he can chew with commercial vehicles being affected and the cascading effect it will have on prices of essential goods as goods transport would be affected and a lot of them will be lying on the road facing engine breakdowns and more requiring replacements or expensive repairs.

This move will require industries that benefit to provide a quid pro quo not seen to the average citizen and that is far too tempting to allow something as foolish as common sense to prevail.

The paragraph above is not in the realm of conjecture.