Some facts about E10 fuel.

[Gomez]

I heard recently that regular 91 octane unleaded was to be completely phased out midyear, to be replaced with E10 (91 octane with 10% ethanol).

I contacted BP Tech Support and asked them a few questions.

Firstly, they told me that what I'd heard was wrong. They then went on to explain a bit about the E10 rollout.

The NSW Government is apparently very active in pushing the E10 agenda. As such, BP recently changed a number of NSW 91 octane pumps to E10 (and placarded them accordingly). According to BP, there is NO requirement for fuel companies to state the existence of ethanol in their fuels if the level is 10% or less, but BP did so anyway. (This flies in the face of what I've read on E10 labeling elsewhere).

They have since removed the E10 pump labeling as there is a shortage of the fuel and supplies to those pumps aren't guaranteed.

As E10 contains ethanol (rich in oxygen), you car needs to use more fuel (around 3% more) for efficient cylinder combustion. There is a trade off, cheaper E10...but more consumption.

According to BP, Federal Legislation will require them to supply 10% of their total petrol output as E10. BP have made the decision to use this ethanol only in their 91 octane fuel.

At the moment, little/none of this is sold in Melbourne.

The long term aim for BP is to sell 91 octane fuel with an ethanol level of under 5%. As a proportion of their output is of 95 and 98 octane, the 10% E10 production target can be reached solely by mixing a small amount of ethanol in their 91 octane product.