Thailand's Department of Energy Development and Efficiency is taking measures to increase the consumption of E20, a blend of gasoline and ethanol in an 80:20 ratio, in a bid to boost demand for domestically-produced ethanol, a department official said Wednesday.
"One in four cars in Thailand can use the E20 blend, but not all of them do. We can do this [promote the use of E20] by price structure and by making it more available in retail stations," the official said.
"To date, there are 900 retail stations selling E20. We have to push for more availability all over the country, but we have yet to talk to oil companies to implement this. We have not decided a date yet, but it is definitely in the blueprint," the official said.
The retail price of ethanol-blended gasoline or gasohol in Thailand is cheaper than regular gasoline, as it is subsidized by the Oil Fund, which imposes a levy on regular gasoline and diesel. The most popular blend is E10, a blend of gasoline and ethanol in a 90:10 ratio.
Domestic demand for fuel-grade ethanol stands at 1.4 million liters/day, less than half the country's production capacity of 2.925 million liters/day.
The department in November 2011 announced a ban on the use of RON 91 gasoline from October 2012 in a bid to double gasohol consumption to around 2 million liters/day from the current 1.08 million liters/day.
