Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the viability of the use of E10 fuel in older vehicles and motorcycles.

The content of road transport fuel is governed by a combination of legislation and industry fuel standards, specifically the Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) Regulations and a European industry standard, in the case of petrol this is EN228. The EN specification incorporates the statutory requirements. The standards, and their maintenance, are industry agreed and informed by industry testing.

Petrol currently sold in the UK may contain up to 5% ethanol (known as ‘E5’). A revised industry fuel standard for petrol (EN228) was agreed and published by the British Standards Institution in 2013. This allows up to 10% bioethanol content (known as ‘E10’). This means that fuel suppliers are free to supply petrol containing anything from 0-10% bioethanol.Most petrol sold in the UK is E5 and therefore contains up to 5% bioethanol. E10 is not yet on sale in the UK.

Any decision to supply E10 is a commercial decision for fuel suppliers and we are not aware of any with immediate plans to introduce E10 into the UK. The Governmentrecognises the concerns of owners of some older vehicles and motorcycles that may not be compatible with E10, and the Department for Transport is in regular contact with fuel suppliers who in turn have been asked to write to us to give at least three months’ notice of plans to introduce this fuel. As yet no suppliers have indicated they have any immediate plans to introduce E10.

The Department is also in regular contact with the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) who provide advice and data concerning the compatibility of UK petrol vehicles with E10 - which we are carefully monitoring.

The Motor Fuel (Composition and Content) Regulations 1999 were amended in 2010 to comply with EU Directive 2009/30/EC which requires the UK Government to ensure that petrol with a maximum ethanol content of 5% remained available until the end of 2013. This mechanism was extended in 2013 in the UK to ensure that E5 continues to be available until the end of 2016.