New Delhi, June 30 -- A fresh survey by LocalCircles has found a sharp increase in complaints from owners of older petrol vehicles about falling fuel efficiency and rising maintenance costs following the nationwide rollout of E20 petrol. The findings come as the Central Government recently told the Supreme Court that the ethanol blending programme remains an ongoing "experiment", with its full impact expected to become clear only by 2027.

The survey, conducted in June 2026, gathered responses from more than 44,000 owners of petrol vehicles purchased in 2022 or earlier across 305 districts. It found that the proportion of respondents reporting a drop in fuel efficiency of more than 10% rose from 45% in May to 66% in June. At the same time...