If your car averages 15kmpl in the city, and one day its mileage dips to 14.5kmpl, would you take to social media, blame govt and question its policies? No. But if the average falls to 13kmpl, or 12kmpl, when nothing but the fuel has changed, your indignation would be natural.
This is the root of the E20 controversy that govt refuses to see. It insists that the mileage loss in older vehicles using E20 – petrol blended with 20% ethanol – is “marginal”. It has floated various figures, ranging from 2% to 6%. On Saturday, at a press conference organised by three ministries, an industry executive said the mileage loss is only 3-3.5%. That’s the same as a drop from 15kmpl to 14.5kmpl. But we know people don’t lose sleep over such blips.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
