An E10 petrol station in Kettering, England, photographed September 1st, 2021.
Joe Giddens | PA pictures | Getty Images
The UK government has started rolling out E10 petrol on pumps and claims that the fuel, which contains ethanol, could cut carbon dioxide emissions from transport by 750,000 tonnes each year. This corresponds to the distance of 350,000 cars from the roads, it said.
Known as E10, gasoline is mixed with up to 10% ethanol and, according to experts, can be used with more than 95% of all gasoline vehicles. Going forward, E10 will be the standard gasoline grade in England, Scotland and Wales. It is slated to roll out in Northern Ireland next year.
E10 is already widely used in countries like the United States, Australia, and across Europe. It has been used in the US for decades and now makes up most of the gas sold in the country.
British motorists with older vehicles are advised to use an online tool to check that they are compatible with the new fuel. If not, they are advised to use a different blend, E5, that contains up to 5% renewable ethanol. Diesel fuel does not change.
“Although more and more drivers are switching to electric vehicles, we can take steps today to reduce emissions from the millions of vehicles that are already on our roads,” UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said in a statement.
Read more about electric vehicles from CNBC Pro
“The small switch to E10 gasoline will reduce greenhouse gas emissions as we accelerate towards a greener transportation future,” he added.
Edmund King, president of the AA Driving Association, described the introduction of E10 as “a positive and easy step to reduce the carbon footprint of road traffic”.
However, the automotive organization RAC cited research that found that 27% of UK drivers surveyed had failed to verify that their vehicle could use E10. In addition, 24% didn’t even know E10 was about to be launched.
The UK government has previously said that around 600,000 vehicles on their roads are unlikely to be E10 compatible. The RAC said drivers of these vehicles would have to “look for and pay for more expensive E5s super unleaded if they want to keep them running”.
Net zero plans
The government’s announcement comes at a time when the UK is developing plans to move away from the internal combustion engine and develop a net-zero transport sector by 2050.
It wants to stop the sale of new diesel and gasoline cars and vans by 2030 and oblige all new cars and vans to have no tailpipe emissions from 2035.
As a sign of how the landscape seems to be changing, the energy giant Shell announced on Wednesday that it would install 50,000 “charging stations” for electric vehicles on the streets in Great Britain through its subsidiary Ubitricity.
Earlier this week, the United Nations Environment Program announced the end of the leaded gasoline era. “When gas stations in Algeria stopped supplying leaded gasoline in July, the use of leaded gasoline around the world ended,” said the Nairobi-based organization.
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