Union Petroleum and Natural Gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri inaugurated the first E85 fuel dispensing station in Delhi Friday (June 5, 2026). E85 has been priced at Rs 82.12 per litre in the national capital, which is exactly Rs 20 lesser than regular E20 petrol. E85 dispensers will carry their own branding to mark it out from regular E20 petrol. The fuel is available for purchase with immediate effect for applicable vehicles.
- E85 has been priced Rs 20 lower than E20
- 500 E85 dispensing stations expected by year-end
E85 price vs E20 price
In comparison, regular E20 petrol is priced at Rs 102.12 per litre as of June 5, 2026, while premium XP95 petrol is priced at Rs 109.24 per litre. A difference of just Rs 20, however, is still isn’t significant given the hit in fuel efficiency E85 vehicles are likely to experience due to lower energy density of ethanol compared to petrol. On average, E85-compliant vehicles can be expected to be about 25-35 percent less efficient than an equivalent E20 vehicle. Moreover, E85 vehicles cost more. For instance, the newly launched E85-compliant Hero Splendor+ costs about Rs 6,000 more than the regular model.
For reference, in Brazil, which is often cited as a prime example of a country using flex-fuel vehicles, the price delta between E100 and E27 (base blend available in Brazil) is roughly 36 percent. Meanwhile, the price difference in India works out to be just about 20 percent.
E85 availability
With the first E85 dispensing station now operation on Pusa Road in New Delhi, more are expected to follow soon. In the short-term, the government plans to set up about 50-100 dispensing stations in the Delhi-NCR and the Mumbai-Pune-Nagpur corridor, and ramp it up to 500 dispensing stations by end of this year. By the end of 2027, the government has an ambitious plan of having 5,000 operational E85 dispensing stations in major cities across the country.
Currently, only a handful of vehicles in India are E85-compliant. These include the Maruti Wagon R flex fuel, although it has only been made available for the commercial sector. Meanwhile, the Hero Splendor+ and HF Deluxe will be available for private buyers from July. Now, with the E85 fuel officially available, more carmakers can be expected to introduce flex-fuel compliant cars. Tata Motor had previously said they’ll be ready with their first flex-fuel vehicle by the end of this year, while Toyota has also showcased flex-fuel versions of the Innova Hycross on several occasions before.
Dipan Sur
Dhruv Dhaka
Ajit Dalvi
