NEW DELHI, April 29 -- The Centre on Wednesday proposed allowing vehicles to run on 100% ethanol (E100) by amending the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, marking a step towards positioning ethanol as a primary transport fuel.

The draft notification dated 29 April proposes replacing references to 'E85' with 'E85 or E100' in multiple provisions, formally enabling higher ethanol blends and potentially easing pressure on surplus domestic capacity.

This comes amid a push to reduce dependence on imported crude and expand the use of locally produced biofuels.

The draft also proposes replacing B10 biodiesel (10% biodiesel and 90% petro-diesel) in the law with B100 (fully biodiesel), signalling readiness for wider use of fully bio-based fuels....