More drivers using ethanol: planning or ‘down our throats’?

The federal government pretends to fly the flag of the environment to succumb to pressure from biofuel producers. In the case of ethanol, it has risen – illegally – by a “provisional” measure, its content in gasoline to 32% since August 1st. The Fuel of the Future Law provides for up to 35% alcohol, provided that tests are carried out to prove the technical feasibility of the mixture, which have not yet started and will take at least six months to meet minimum approval criteria. This led the MPF-MG to file a public lawsuit against the federal government to prevent E32, alleging non-compliance with the law.

That’s easy: with the stroke of a pen, everything is solved. And Brazilians, who did not adhere to hydrous ethanol at the pump, will have to accept it “down their throats” mixed with gasoline. The government is not concerned about possible driver losses, in addition to the increase in consumption, as the damage caused — in the long term — by E32 is unpredictable.

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It can cause oxidation of metal components and hoses in cars not designed for this ethanol content. In the case of the motorcyclist, this is not a hypothesis: motorcycles have already stopped working properly since gasoline went from E27 to E30 in 2025, according to a warning (ignored by the government) from the association of its manufacturers, Abraciclo.

There are more objective and intelligent ways to increase the production (and consumption) of ethanol in Brazil, but they would require planning by the competent agencies. A term that, by the way, has been somewhat disappeared from the government vocabulary. Some of them:

1. Consumer choice

Of our fleet of flex-fuel cars (80% of the total), only 30% are fueled with ethanol. A push from the government would reverse this percentage and lead 70% of drivers to switch from gasoline to alcohol;

2. 100% ethanol cars

The factories would have no difficulty in producing engines that only accept ethanol. But they fear the driver’s concern of being held hostage again by the alcohol producers, who have already failed at the end of the 80s and left him without fuel (Decree of death of the “Pro-Alcohol”). Almost impossible to repeat today, due to the high volume produced and even the growing share of corn ethanol.

Some factories could start producing these engines today, with much greater efficiency than the flex ones fueled with alcohol. It would be another push to replace fossil fuel with vegetable derivatives.

3. Global solution

Alcohol is considered an excellent solution for decarbonization worldwide. And it could, therefore, be transformed into a commodity, with guaranteed export to several countries where electrification would come (if it comes) more slowly. The United States (from corn) and Brazil (from sugarcane and corn) are the two largest producers of ethanol in the world, but other countries also produce it on a smaller scale. And many have also adopted the solution of adding it to gasoline. At levels obviously much lower than in Brazil.

Accomplices

The summary of the opera is that, in the face of the agribusiness lobby, the Ministry of Mines and Energy is an accomplice of the Presidency of the Republic by authorizing an illegal increase in ethanol content, and ignoring the elaboration of a project to include alcohol in a more robust way in our energy matrix, without trampling the law or the driver.