India to launch E85 fuel tomorrow in push for flex-fuel mobility | Today’s news
India’s oil marketing companies will start rolling out E85 fuel – an 80-85% ethanol variant of petrol – on Friday, marking a new phase in flex-fuel mobility efforts.
Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. said the first phase of the E85 rollout will cover about 50 retail outlets in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. “Indian Oil, along with other oil marketing companies, will launch E85, an ethanol-based gasoline developed for use in flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs), on the occasion of World Environment Day, the oil marketer said in a statement on Thursday.
Mint had earlier reported that the Center is preparing a broader policy push to allow the adoption of flex-fuel vehicles that can run on ethanol blends up to E85 petrol.
“Containing 80-85% ethanol and 15-20% auto gasoline, E85 represents an important milestone in India’s ethanol adoption journey. The initiative supports Aatmanirbhar Bharat, promotes cleaner mobility, strengthens the biofuels ecosystem, benefits farmers and offers consumers a more sustainable fuel option,” Indian Oil said in a statement.
The inauguration ceremony will be attended by the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas along with the Secretary MoP&NG, senior officials of the Ministry and top officials of the Oil Marketing Companies.
The move comes at a time when automakers including Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. and Hero MotoCorp Ltd. introduced flex-fuel variants of its best-selling cars WagonR and Splendor.
Reducing dependence on oil
The push for flex-fuel vehicles is gaining momentum as India seeks to reduce its dependence on imported crude oil. The country imports nearly 90% of its oil needs, worth more than $120 billion a year — much of it from West Asia via the Strait of Hormuz, which is effectively closed because of the war in Iran. Global oil prices have remained volatile amid the conflict, briefly topping $100 a barrel before falling after the ceasefire, though risks of further rises remain.
Such volatility poses a fiscal risk for India: an annual increase of $1 per barrel would add approx ₹18,000 crore on account of oil imports. India imported oil worth ₹10.92 trillion in FY26, down nearly 10% from the ₹11.61 trillion in the previous fiscal.
As transport accounts for a large share of demand for petrol, reducing dependence on fossil fuels for mobility is seen as a central element of the strategy.
Brazil is often cited as a successful example of flex-fuel deployment, introduced in 2003. Today, more than 90% of cars and two-wheelers there can run on ethanol, gasoline or blended fuels, supported by a strong sugarcane-based ethanol ecosystem.
