In Sweden, the four governing parties have agreed on the trajectory for the reduction obligation for transportation fuels to 2030. From August 1, 2021, the reduction obligation for diesel will be increased to 26 percent, and for petrol (gasoline) to six percent. For the latter, this also means that E10 will be introduced as the new standard unleaded 95-octane petrol quality on the Swedish transportation fuel market.
Seen as a low-hanging fruit to reducing fossil carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from road transportation, E10 is already available in 14 other EU member states – Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia.
It is positive that E10 will be introduced in Sweden from August 1. E10 is one of several important tools for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the transport sector. E10 will be an important factor in achieving our common climate goals, said Ebba Tamm, Expert Product and Environment at Drivkraft Sverige, previously known as the Swedish Petroleum and Biofuels Institute (SPBI).
However, already in January 2011, the European Fuel Quality Directive (FQD) allowed for a blending of 10 percent by volume ethanol in petrol (E10) as a new fuel standard across the EU.
Unfortunately, we have had ten lost years for E10. If Sweden had from the start increased the blend to ten percent, we would have had 2 to 3 million tonnes less carbon dioxide emissions from Swedish roads over this period. These were avoidable emissions that Swedish politicians are responsible for, as well as the environmental organizations that incorrectly blamed biofuels such as ethanol as damaging for the climate, remarked Gustav Melin, CEO of the Swedish Bioenergy Association (Svebio) in a comment.
Swedish motorists need not worry about not being able to drive on E10. The vast majority of petrol-powered cars, even older ones, can use E10 seeing as it became a legal requirement for cars produced from January 1, 2011.
Car owners in Sweden do not have to worry about not being able to drive on the E10, about 94 percent of the petrol fleet is approved. The older cars that can not use E10 will be able to continue to use E5. BIL Sweden and Drivkraft Sverige will publish on their websites a list of which cars can be driven on E10, said Anders Norén, Technical Manager of BIL Sweden.
For motorcyclists, the message is the same, a significant majority of makes and models are E10 compatible. Furthermore, like the European Association of Motorcycle Manufacturers (ACEM) points out, the FQD also requires that member states ensure sufficient availability of E5 (5 percent ethanol by volume) for those petrol-powered vehicles unable to utilize E10 – not least the vintage and veteran fleet of two- and four-wheeled vehicles.
