NRMA pleads drivers to use petrol with ethanol to extend Australia’s national reserves
The country’s leading automotive body has called on drivers to overcome their skepticism of ethanol-blended gasoline and switch to E10 gasoline to save money and expand national fuel reserves as the energy crisis deepens.
“Every liter of E10 sold, i.e. 10 per cent domestically produced ethanol, relieves pressure on the supply chain,” said NRMA chief spokesman Peter Khoury. “We need to encourage people to reach for the E10 pump.”
Khoury said ethanol fuel consumption in Australia had been low for years, partly due to fears that petrol mixed with ethanol could either potentially damage vehicles or provide poor fuel efficiency, but this was not true for most cars produced after 2000, except for some high-performance models.
“We recommend people follow manufacturers’ recommendations.”
Khoury said some of the debate about the fuel in Australia and around the world could be traced back to anti-fuel campaigns led by oil companies concerned about their sales being negatively impacted and loss of control of their supply chains.
NSW passed a law in 2007 aimed at improving the security of domestic fuel supplies that requires fuel retailers to ensure 6 per cent of fuel sold is ethanol, a form of alcohol that can be mixed with gasoline to be burned in most petrol engines.
Khoury said although the fuel was cheaper than regular unleaded, Australians remained resistant to its use and the level of compulsory sales was never reached.
According to a report by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, between 2010 and 2021 the amount of E10 dropped significantly, from around 39 percent to around 21 percent. “The NSW government believes that ethanol’s low market share reflects low price differences between various fuel types and customer concerns about ethanol fuels,” the report said.
According to the NRMA, the average price of regular unleaded fuel in Sydney was 244.3 cents per litre, while unleaded E10 was 227.6 cents per litre, up 83.9 cents per liter from the last low point of the Sydney cycle.
While Australian drivers remain skeptical, similar or much higher ethanol blends are gaining acceptance worldwide. While most fuels sold in the United States contain 10 percent ethanol, 15 percent blends are becoming much more common. Brazil mandates the sale of a 27 percent blend, while in India the average reached 18 percent.
Although most new vehicles can use the fuel without damaging their engines, the environmental impact of ethanol blends remains complex and controversial. While ethanol blended fuel burns cleaner than regular unleaded fuel, this benefit can be negligible when produced using electricity produced by burning coal.
Most ethanol in Australia is produced from agricultural waste in an efficient use of resources, but some parts of Indonesia and Brazil’s virgin rainforests are being cut down to make way for crops grown for ethanol and biodiesel While producing at great environmental cost, Corn production in the US causes significant greenhouse gas emissionsS.
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Nick O’Malley is the National Environment and Climate Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He is also a senior writer and former US correspondent.Connect via email.
