India's top carmakers raise concerns over E20 gasoline quality
India's top carmakers, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, and Mahindra & Mahindra, are raising serious concerns about E20 gasoline, petrol blended with 20% ethanol content, rolled out nationwide in April.
Even though they officially support the fuel, internal emails reviewed by Reuters show they are worried about its quality.
The auto industry group SIAM filed a complaint with the government but later withdrew it to double-check its data.
E20 chloride, moisture exceed safe limits
Industry testing of E20 samples from 21 states and territories found some pretty alarming numbers: chloride levels reached 570 ppm in Rajasthan (the safe limit is just 3 ppm), and moisture hit 13,000 ppm in Andhra Pradesh (way above the allowed 3,000 ppm).
Organic chloride is being linked to quick vehicle breakdowns, sometimes after only 200km, and more drivers are complaining about poor performance and mileage.