Amid the ongoing row over the use of E20 ethanol-blended petrol in older vehicles, Aam Aadmi Party national convenor and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday wrote to 29 automobile manufacturers seeking written clarification on what he called contradictory positions on the fuel's compatibility with vehicles made before 2023.
Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said the companies had been given seven days to clarify whether owners of older vehicles could safely use E20 petrol. The demand follows a government press conference on July 4, where representatives of automobile companies said the fuel would not damage vehicle engines, with only a marginal drop in mileage. Kejriwal said he had sent separate letters on the matter to Maruti Suzuki, Toyota Kirloskar and Hero MotoCorp, among the other manufacturers.
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'Contradiction Between Your Two Positions'
According to Kejriwal, company representatives at the July 4 briefing claimed that switching to E20 fuel would cause only a slight dip in mileage, of about 4-5%, with no damage to the vehicle. He pointed out that this assurance sits at odds with owners' manuals issued by the same companies, which caution against using petrol with more than 10% ethanol content in vehicles manufactured before 2023.
"There is a contradiction between your two positions," Kejriwal said, arguing that a published owner's manual forms part of the agreement between a company and its consumer and cannot be at odds with what company representatives say in public. He said written responses from the manufacturers would help establish their official stance and clear up whether consumers had been given conflicting guidance on the fuel's safety.
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The letters build on an allegation Kejriwal made a day earlier, when he accused the government of pressuring automakers into publicly endorsing E20 fuel for vehicles that were originally designed to run on E10. He said manufacturers had gone along with the government's position despite their own manuals warning against it.
Kejriwal added that he would also write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue, seeking clarity on who would bear the cost if vehicles were damaged as a result of the fuel's nationwide rollout. There was no immediate response from the automakers or the government to Kejriwal's allegations.
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