Maruti to provide cost effective E20 Upgrade kits to old cars
The introduction of E20 fuel, which consists of 20 percent ethanol and 80 percent petrol, has led to the escalation of concerns by car owners particularly on the older models of cars regarding the possibility of damage to the fuel system parts.
Although ARAI, SIAM and Indian Oil testing results cite little effect on performance, user forums have raised the scenario of potential wear and tear on cars that are specifically made to use E0 or E10 gasoline.
Due to the threat of decreased engine power, coupled with the availability of E20 fuels, Maruti Suzuki is planning to come up with an E20 kit upgrade to the older versions of its cars, including perhaps even 15-year old cars, as was reported recently.
The cost of these kits is likely to be in the range of 4,000 to 6,000 so that it is affordable to a large number of customers.
The kit will probably also contain ethanol resistant rubber seals, gaskets and fuel lines-parts most vulnerable to ethanol degrading effects. The production history of Maruti of offering the affordable replacement components indicates that the upgrade will be affordable, particularly based on the fact that a considerable number of its customers possess entry-level hatch and SUV models.
As of April 2023, it is producing all new Maruti Suzuki automobiles as E20 compliant. But older models were designed using materials designed to work with E0 or E10 blends of fuel. Failing to upgrade, long usage of E20 may result in premature wear in such cars, which is rather expensive to fix.
The availability of an upgrade path allows the customer to have confidence to make the transition to using E20 even as fuel stations change nationwide without fear of damage.
Similar kits are in works with other automakers as well. The production of ethanol has been of benefit to farmers to the tune of 40,000 crores a year as well as saving the country close to 43,000 crores in forex, thus there is no possibility of a reversion to E0 or E10.
According to government research only some of the older models might require some replacements of parts and this can only be once throughout the cars lifetime to enable adaptation to E20. The effort of Maruti may thus become a reference point in the manner in which the industry deals with the legacy vehicles in the transition to cleaner fuel.
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