While the need of the hour for the Government of India was to reduce crude oil import, a whopping 85 percent from other countries, and reduce pollution, does the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) program, having generated tremendous furore, truly augur well for India’s automotive future?

Industry leaders from India’s leading oil companies, automotive industry bodies and OEMs came together on 30 August 2025, to discuss its directives, including the employment of sugarcane farmers.

Setting the tone for the evening, Reji Mathai, Director, ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India) spoke about BS6 and BS6 Phase Two as unique current propositions that prepared the ground for ethanol addition into petrol. He mentioned, “While ARAI is responsible for maximum testing, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and oil companies have also played important parts.”  

2001 was the year when ethanol blends were first done in India. The systematic sequence of ethanol-based blend tests after the above was as follows:

• 2010- Multiple studies done over 10 percent blending
• 2016- BS4 testing was done on 7–8-year-old vehicles
• 2021- A detailed study was done on 8–10-year-old vehicles

Fuel efficiency will go down

Industry speakers confirmed that fuel efficiency from E20 will decrease by 2-5 percent. However, Prashant K Bannerjee, Executive Director, SIAM, averred, “Fuel efficiency is determined by terrain and driving habits, leading to different experiences for different customers. Owing to complex and variable factors, it cannot always be pointed towards the fuel.” Though better octane numbers have now been attained, the energy generated is six percent lesser than pure petrol.

As a country that has successfully adopted EBP, Brazil, with E27 and an overall blend of 45 percent, was quoted numerous times. Milind Pagare, VP (R&D), Bajaj Auto, shared his views on the company’s two-wheelers sold in India and abroad. He said, “We will always provide fuel-related help to our customers whenever necessary. However, I’m sure that there will be no catastrophic engine failures due to EBP.”   

Experiments are necessary for progress

“Experiments will keep happening; otherwise, we can’t go ahead. We will always rely on scientific studies for progress,” said Mathai. Although he could not give a figure when asked about the E20-compliant percentage on Indian roads, he stated that the industry has tested two-wheelers which are 10 years old and four-wheelers between 8-10 years of age for the blend in 2016 and 2021, respectively. Mathai said, “We couldn’t say anything for sure when E20 came in 2021.”

Bannerjee assured that, “OEMs will have no warranty-related changes due to EBP. Whatever is committed to the customer at the time of sale will be honoured fully. Neither warranty nor insurance will be impacted by the above.”

Most attendees were of the opinion that OEMs and oil companies were not providing any clarity about E20-related faults. Ascertaining the need for the above, Bannerjee said, “We need to clearly articulate about the fuel to our customers. This can be done through a series of summary statements that could be press releases or FAQs.” He said that the statements will be released on the SIAM, ARAI, or OEM pages at the earliest.

He further added, “Most OEMS have or are in the process of communicating to dealers that E20 can be used in E10 vehicles without any concern.” In other words, E20 will cause no problems on any vehicles, including the ones that are marked E5-E10. Specific models of the two-wheelers and four-wheelers have been tested BS3 onwards and he mentioned that no vehicle has encountered engine failure due to E20 to date, after testing over 100,000 kilometres. The setting up of an arbitrary testing agency across vintages and makes of vehicles was also mentioned.   

India becomes self-sufficient in ethanol distillation

Anurag Saraogi, Chief General Manager, Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL) expressed contentment at attaining a high level of energy security in India. Backing up the above with figures, he averred, “Eight billion litres of distilleries have come up over the years, and the best part is that these are entirely indigenous.”

Ethanol is prepared from sugarcane, maize and other grains, after which it is mixed with petrol. As UP, Maharashtra and Karnataka are the three major Indian sugarcane states, the oil industry formed long-term agreements with entrepreneurs for country-wide provision. The quantity from sugar molasses has gone up to 3.5-3.7 billion litres today.

Maize is the leading provider of ethanol, contributing 40 percent. Today, maize farming is more viable than ever before, with farmers being recognised as ‘Urjadaatas’ (energy-givers). They’re being offered INR 72 per litre to grow more maize for ethanol and have been paid INR 400 billion in 2025. Payments are being made to the farmers alone.

PS Ravi, Director, Federation of Indian Petroleum Industry (FIPI), said, “In 2014, we achieved a 1.5 percent blend, resulting in 380 million litres of ethanol. While E10 was made available across India in 2019, we have been able to get to 7.5 billion litres by 2025. At this rate, we can safely target procurement and blending of 11-12 billion litres by 2026.” Adding to this, he said, “India is already setting up pilot plants for using high agri residues to prepare the second generation of ethanol.”

Talking about pricing, Ravi said, “The procurement price of ethanol is much more than cost of petrol. Yet, the oil industry is still maintaining a constant price despite Minimum Selling Prices (MSPs) and higher ethanol being derived from feedstock. 

Apart from the above, the industry experts expects India to save INR 1,440 billion in terms of FOREX. As a low-carbon intensity fuel, it will easily achieve net-zero emissions, resulting in a cost-effective pathway for energy transition.

Vikram Gulati, Executive Vice-President, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), said, “Through its 2070 emission plan and circular economy, India will become the global reference model. Farmers will spend more, contributing to the economy.”

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Nawgati has announced the launch of Aaveg Pro, an integrated operations platform for petroleum dealers, at the Petrol Dealers Association Pune (PDAP) Annual General Meeting. The system is designed to digitise fuel station management within the Indian retail ecosystem.

Aaveg Pro serves as a digital operating system to replace manual workflows in fuel retail. The platform consolidates several critical station functions into a single interface:

• Sales and Inventory: Features include shift-level nozzle reconciliation, live inventory tracking and stock variation control.
• Financial Accounting: The system supports VAT, GST, cess and surcharge handling to maintain audit-ready records and real-time balance sheet visibility.
• Fleet and Credit Management: Dealers can manage digital fleet contracts, consolidated invoicing and credit risk monitoring.

The platform is designed to integrate with existing station infrastructure, such as dispensers, CCTV systems, fuel storage compressors and vehicle-tracking systems, to provide operational oversight.

Vaibhav Kaushik, Co-Founder & CEO, Nawgati, said, “The launch of Aaveg Pro reflects our continued commitment to building solutions that solve real operational challenges for fuel dealers. Fuel retail in India still relies heavily on fragmented and manual workflows across accounting, stock monitoring, reconciliation, and customer credit management. With Aaveg Pro, we are bringing these critical functions onto one integrated platform so that dealers can operate with greater visibility, control, and efficiency.”

Aalaap Nair, Co-Founder, Nawgati, said, “Aaveg Pro has been built specifically for the day-to-day realities of fuel retail operations in India. From shift-level reconciliation and stock tracking to consolidated fleet invoicing and live financial reporting, the platform is designed to reduce complexity and improve decision-making at the station level. Our goal is to help dealers move away from manual processes and adopt a smarter, more scalable way of running their businesses.”

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Charge_iN by Mahindra and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) have signed a strategic agreement to develop electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure at HPCL retail outlets across India. The collaboration aims to utilise HPCL’s national fuel station network to increase the availability of public charging points for electric four-wheelers.

HPCL currently operates over 24,400 retail outlets and has installed more than 5,400 charging stations under its HP e-Charge brand. The new stations established through this partnership will exclusively feature 180 kW dual gun chargers, designed for high-speed charging.

The deployment is intended to support the transition to green transportation in India, currently the third-largest automotive market globally. The agreement focuses on building an ultrafast charging network to improve reliability and reduce charging times for EV users.

The partnership aligns with the government's objective of strengthening public EV infrastructure. By integrating chargers into existing fuel stations, the companies aim to provide a platform for nationwide expansion and seamless access for drivers.

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Electric mobility startup Bijliride has detailed plans to expand its franchise network to more than 25 Indian cities. Operating under a Franchise Owned–Franchise Operated (FOFO) model, the company aims to onboard 30 franchise partners by March 2027 and scale its fleet to between 10,000 and 15,000 electric two-wheelers within the next 18 months.

The expansion the startup claims is projected to drive 150 percent growth in fleet operations. Bijliride has identified several urban mobility markets for this phase, including:

• Tier 1 Cities: Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kolkata.
• Emerging Hubs: Hyderabad clusters, Jaipur, Patna, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, and Kochi.
• Logistics Centres: Nagpur, Indore, Surat, and Visakhapatnam.

The strategy targets demand from logistics operators, gig economy platforms and urban commuters.

Under the FOFO structure, local partners own and manage the fleets while Bijliride provides the technology infrastructure. This includes real-time vehicle tracking, battery management protocols, and rental management systems.

The partners have to commit to a minimum of 50 electric two-wheelers to begin with, an initial investment of around INR 1.4-1.6 million, with a projected breakeven in approximately 15 months under stable fleet utilisation. The startup also assists partners with driver onboarding and connects fleets with demand from local delivery businesses and gig platforms.

Shivam Sisodiya, CEO and Co-Founder, Bijliride, said, “Electric mobility demand in India is growing rapidly, particularly among gig workers and last-mile delivery operators. At this stage, our focus is disciplined scale. The FOFO model allows us to grow responsibly by partnering with local entrepreneurs who understand their markets while leveraging our technology platform and operational systems. This structure enables us to expand faster while ensuring fleets are managed efficiently on the ground.”

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It’s been sometime that Donut Lab has been working on producing a battery that will address the challenging needs of EVs better than other batteries have been able to do. Claiming to be the world’s first solid-state battery ready for production vehicles measured in independent testing conditions, the company has released its third test result that dispels any suspicions that the battery would be a supercapacitor rather than a battery.
The results measure the properties of its solid-state battery, evaluating its ability to retain charge when not in use. Available for download on its site, the third and most recent test follows two other tests that looked at charging speed (the test was conducted by Technology Re) using two passive cooling configurations and evaluation of capacity performance of the battery cell in hot conditions (by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland). 
The test measuring the battery’s ability to retain charge even when not in use was carried out using a simple research setup. It was connected at room temperature to the research laboratory’s battery tester, which repeatedly measured the cell voltage every 10 seconds. Like the previous test that measured battery performance at very high temperatures, this test also began with a 1C capacity test, demonstrating that the cell was precisely the same as the other test examples.
 
After the capacity test, the battery cell was charged to approximately 50 percent charge and left connected to the battery tester for ten days. The cell was then discharged to measure the remaining energy capacity. The results show that the battery cell voltage stabilises during the first 10 hours after charging. Over the next nine or so days, the voltage curve continues to stabilise. A capacity test at the end of the test period confirmed that the voltage drop corresponds to the amount of energy in watt-hours.
The Donut Battery behaved in the test exactly as a battery should. If the test had been performed with a supercapacitor, the charge would have fallen linearly much faster during the same time period.
“Since we unveiled the Donut Battery, there has been a lot of speculation and theories about whether it is a supercapacitor. In all its simplicity, this test proves that it is a battery. Supercapacitors charge and discharge quickly, but they also lose their charge quickly when not in use. The Donut Battery behaves like a battery and can maintain a charge for significantly longer,” confirmed Ville Piippo, CTO, Donut Lab.
After the third test mentioned above, Donut Lab has carried out a special test to measure battery performance in a battery pack using the Verge TS Pro motorcycle that charges in less than ten minutes, making it the world's fastest-charging electric motorcycle.
 

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