Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
India’s leading automobile industry body SIAM confirmed in a letter to the government what car owners have been alleging all this while over the E20 policy. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said there was a “huge increase” in cases of damage to vehicle parts due to fuel contamination at petrol pumps after the introduction of E20 petrol. However, as the contents of the letter became public, SIAM quickly retracted the letter, earning the moniker of Scared Indian Auto Manufacturers.
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SIAM, a non-profit group that represents major Indian auto and engine producers, in a letter to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) on July 28, a copy of which is with India Today Digital, revealed that its members had observed a “massive increase” in issues with customer vehicle parts and their replacements. The SIAM members observed issues mostly with fuel injectors, fuel pumps, the EGR valve, the exhaust, and parts that are in direct contact with fuel or engine emissions.
In the letter to the oil ministry, the automobile industry body also cited a field investigation and said that the reason for the failure of vehicle parts is “corrosion and wear” caused by “high chloride presence” in the fuel.
According to a research paper in the Corrosion Science journal, high chloride contamination in fuel happens when saltwater, chemical impurities, or industrial cleaning agents mix with the fuel supply chain, often worsened by moisture build-up and ageing underground storage tanks.
The issues are being flagged even as the government has advanced the deadline for the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme, making the sale of 20% of ethanol in petrol or E20 mandatory. Ethanol is hygroscopic in nature, meaning that it attracts moisture. SIAM said that chloride issues had increased specifically after the introduction of E20 fuel.
However, SIAM issued a clarification on Tuesday (August 4) night as the contents of its letter spread like wildfire.
SIAM’s retraction is only a part of a series of curious incidents related to the letter. Several news websites that reported on the letter and its contents had pulled down their articles, with their pages showing a 404 error. The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, meanwhile, said it was vigorously checking for contamination of fuel multiple times a day. The wording of the SIAM retraction statement parroted the statement of the oil ministry.
While the government mandated E20 petrol in April 2023, over 80% of the vehicles in the country remained incompatible. People are demanding that compatible fuel be made available till their vehicles are phased out.
SIAM’S RETRACTION, AN ATTEMPT TO SHIELD GOVT, ACTIVIST POONAWALLA ALLEGES
After SIAM issued the clarification and retracted its letter to the oil ministry, activist and founder of Team Bharat Tehseen Poonwalla alleged that the retraction by SIAM showed that it was under pressure from the government on the E20 issue.
“A direct side-by-side technical evaluation of both documents exposes alarming contradictions that severely undermine the technical authority of the auto industry’s premier apex body, giving the distinct impression of an institutional retreat under administrative duress,” Poonawalla told India Today Digital.
The SIAM letter included numbers backed by scientific studies regarding the contamination and excessive moisture content in fuel.
“Submitting detailed laboratory figures to a Union ministry only to publicly discard them upon administrative scrutiny suggests that scientific rigor and engineering facts were abruptly discarded the moment they collided with policy narratives,” Poonawalla, whose Team Bharat has been protesting against the government’s “rushed implementation” of E20 policy, said.
“SIAM has chosen to walk back its own technical findings to shield higher administrative directives, leaving vehicle owners to absorb the mechanical and financial fallout of unaddressed fuel quality issues,” he added, warning that this decision of SIAM had fundamentally damaged its credibility.
CHLORIDE ISSUE INCREASED AFTER E20 POLICY IMPLEMENTATION: SIAM
According to SIAM’s letter to the MoPNG, the automobile industry body found that there has been a significant increase in the cases of chloride contamination issues “specifically after the Union government’s E20 implementation. The letter also revealed that there have been “very few prior cases of that”.
It also warned that recurring contamination-related incidents could erode consumer confidence in ethanol-blended fuels, a key pillar of the government’s EBP programme.
Chloride is highly detrimental to engine parts as its presence or accumulation in the fuel system or exhaust system leads to corrosion, resulting in permanent damage to engine parts either immediately or over time, depending on the contamination level.
To address the issue, SIAM urged the government to introduce mandatory chloride limits in the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) fuel specifications.
Under BIS specifications, automotive fuels must be free from added chlorine and chloride materials. If a consumer dispute arises regarding chloride content, a threshold above 10 mg/kg triggers testing via X-Ray fluorescence or micro-coulometric techniques.
SIAM has recommended a total chloride limit of less than 1 mg/kg for commercial E20 and E85 fuels and less than 3 mg/kg for anhydrous ethanol used in blending.
SIAM PARROTS GOVERNMENT’S LINE ON FUEL CONTAMINATION
Responding to media reports that cited the SIAM letter on fuel contamination, the petroleum ministry said oil marketing companies (OMCs) regularly monitor fuel quality and have further strengthened testing protocols across the country.
“Certain media reports have cited issues of fuel adulteration or contamination. It is hereby clarified that fuel quality is monitored on a regular basis by Oil Marketing Companies. In addition to the advanced and elaborate testing protocols already in place, further checks have been instituted, including water ingress testing 8–12 times a day in over 87,000 outlets,” the ministry’s statement said.
The ministry added that over 2,000 fuel samples had been tested for chloride and sulphide contamination, with only two cases of chloride contamination detected nationwide so far. “Sales from those pumps were suspended immediately. Strict action will be taken in case any contamination or adulteration is found in any retail outlet,” it said, adding that OMCs had also been directed to proactively detect possible contamination across the entire fuel supply chain.
SIAM WITHDRAWS ITS PREVIOUS COMMUNICATION, SAYS THERE IS NO CAUSE OF CONCERN
After the contents of SIAM’s letter were shared widely, the automobile industry body quickly issued a statement of clarification and stated that it is “withdrawing the earlier communication”.
“SIAM would like to reassure consumers and the general public that the automobile industry has always been fully supportive of this initiative of the Government of India on E20, which is important from an energy security perspective,” SIAM said in its official statement on Tuesday (August 4).
“There is no cause of concern arising from the matter reported, as these issues have been routinely addressed over the past several decades between the Auto Industry and OMCs,” the SIAM statement added.
While the withdrawal is an acknowledgement that the letter was genuine, the move allegedly comes under pressure.
Sunderdeep Singh, founder of Volklub, an Indian automotive platform and advisory service, reacting to SIAM’s clarification post on X, wrote: “SIAM – Scared Indian Auto Manufacturers”.
While ministers have been asking activists to produce one or two vehicles that have been damaged because of E20 petrol, the letter by the country’s leading automakers’ body speaks of an increase in damage to vehicle parts after the introduction of higher ethanol blends while vehicles remained incompatible. SIAM’s letter and the U-turn have given enough ammunition to activists seeking a choice of fuel for their vehicles.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
