THE EDITOR, Sir:

The introduction of E10 fuel last year was promoted as the 'sweet fuel', and the best thing for vehicles, the environment and the economy; unfortunately, however, this is not the whole truth. While it is true that many vehicles are compatible with the new fuel, this is not so for many others, even some late-model vehicles.

I drive a 2002 Nissan with an 1800cc gas engine, and have tried the new fuel on a number of occasions, alternating tankfuls with regular 87 grade. I have compared mileages under similar driving conditions, and each time the E10 consistently gives a significantly lower mileage - about a 20 per cent drop! The feedback I have received from a number of other drivers indicate similar results, and they have stopped using the fuel, like myself.

An Internet search on the matter revealed numerous blogs and independent testing from various countries that showed similar reductions in mileage and other performance problems with the use of E10 for certain vehicles, especially those not specifically made for the North American market.

Not compatible

Of particular interest is a comprehensive study/report published by the 'Transport Engineering Research' Limited of New Zealand in 2006 (ternz.co.nz). That report revealed that New Zealand, like Jamaica, imports a significant proportion of its vehicle fleet as used cars from Japan; government-commissioned research projects in that country and Australia showed a significant number of vehicle types and models that were not compatible with E10, including a number of newer vehicles.

In New Zealand, of the 2.74 million light petrol vehicles, only a little over one million were endorsed for E10 use. It turns out that most Japanese domestic vehicles, from which New Zealand and Jamaica get much of their used-car imports, are not compatible or endorsed for use with fuel blends above E3, as Japan has only permitted the use of this blend since 2003.

Manufacturers of major Japanese brands report that whereas changes to fuel systems were made for export models, e.g., for the US market, to enable compatibility with E10 blends, no such modifications were made for their domestic vehicles prior to 2005. This means that many of the cars running on Jamaican roads today are not endorsed for E10 use by the manufacturers.

Independent study

I would like to challenge the Ministry of Energy/PCJ as to whether any independent study was done to investigate the compatibility of E10 with the domestic car fleet. The recent announcement that PCJ intends to totally phase out other fuel grades and supply only E10 to the market, come November 1, is alarming, as this will have adverse effect on a significant number of motorists.

I am asking the Energy Ministry/Ethanol Division of the PCJ to thoroughly look at the issue again before settling on a final policy that would end up hurting rather than helping a large segment of the motoring public.

I am, etc.,

Chris McClure

Kingston 10