The government on Wednesday proposed amendments to vehicle emission rules to introduce higher ethanol blends and alternative fuels. The draft changes to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 aim to enable wider use of fuels such as E85 (a blend of 85 per cent ethanol with petrol) and E100 (allowing vehicles to run on nearly pure ethanol), as well as B100 biodiesel and hydrogen-CNG combinations.
Currently, India has already achieved 20 per cent blending of ethanol (produced from biomass like sugarcane, corn or rice) with petrol, helping create a cleaner-burning fuel, reduce reliance on imported crude oil, and cut carbon emissions.
In an April 27 gazette notification, the ministry said the changes would be taken up after a 30-day public consultation period, during which stakeholders can submit objections or suggestions.
Among the key proposals, the draft raises the vehicle weight limit from 3,000 kg to 3,500 kg, bringing regulations in sync with global standards for light commercial vehicles. This means more vans, pickups, and small trucks will now fall under the same emission testing rules. It also recognises fuels with higher blends of renewable biofuels—E20 (20 per cent ethanol-blended petrol), E85 (85 per cent ethanol), E100 (100 per cent ethanol), and B100 (100 per cent biodiesel).
Until now, the rules largely referred to E10 and E20. The amendment opens the regulatory door for flex-fuel vehicles and pure biofuel vehicles across all categories, including two-wheelers, three-wheelers, passenger cars, and heavy vehicles.
The notification also updates fuel definitions and standards, including replacing references to “Hydrogen+CN” with “Hydrogen+CNG”.
It further corrects the specific emission intensity metric—measuring the mass of pollutants (in milligrams) emitted per unit of energy produced—to “mg/kWh” from the earlier “Mg/kWh”.
The World-Harmonised Not-To-Exceed (WNTE) emission limit has also been corrected from “60” to “600”.
WNTE is a global methodology that limits heavy-duty engine emissions during real-world, in-use operations rather than only in laboratory conditions. It sets maximum permissible levels for NOx and PM emissions across a wide range of engine speeds, loads, and ambient temperatures.