The government and major automobile companies of the country have jointly clarified the confusion and misleading claims spreading on social media regarding E20 ethanol mixed petrol. Experts said that claims like ants getting on the petrol tank, engine getting damaged, rusting or damage to vehicle parts have no scientific basis. People have been appealed to trust official information instead of viral videos on social media.
Officials of automobile companies present at the press conference said that E20 petrol was not implemented overnight. Scientific studies, research and extensive testing were conducted on this program for many years. Only after this the government implemented it in the entire country in a phased manner. At present, E20 petrol is available as per BIS standards at more than 77 thousand petrol pumps in the country.
Dr. Rahul Bharti, Senior Executive Officer (Corporate Affairs), Maruti Suzuki, said that the company has also tested E20 petrol on E10 cars manufactured before 2023. The data obtained from the testing and service network did not find any additional damage to the engine, fuel tank, pipelines or other components due to E20. He said that even during the servicing of crores of vehicles, no unusual complaint related to E20 came to light.
Experts clarified that ethanol does not contain sugar, hence things like ants being found on petrol tanks are not scientifically correct. No evidence has been found for such claims going viral on social media. Toyota Kirloskar officials said that in the investigation of a case that went viral, adulteration and presence of water was found in the fuel. The fuel was drained from the vehicle and the tank and fuel line were cleaned, after which the vehicle started running normally.
According to experts, the objective of the E20 program is to reduce India's dependence on crude oil imports, reduce carbon emissions and increase demand for ethanol for farmers. He says that ethanol blended fuel has been used successfully for years in many countries of the world and India is also moving in the same direction.
