Cleaner petrol fuel planned to become standard at stations across the UK

A greener form of petrol called E10 is set to be offered at all UK filling stations from next year.

The move is part of Government plans to cut carbon emissions and has the potential to reduce the UK’s CO2 output by the equivalent of taking 350,000 cars of the road – 750,000 tonnes of CO2 a year.

The proposed E10 petrol is made with up to 10 per cent bioethanol, which is a type of renewable fuel. Under the proposals, this would become the standard offering at petrol stations across the country.

Edmund King, AA president, said: “We support the introduction of E10 petrol as it will radically help cut carbon and greenhouse gas emissions.”

Currently available as regular petrol sold in the UK is E5 – this contains up to five per cent bioethanol.

The Department for Transport (DfT) acknowledged that around 700,000 petrol cars in use throughout the UK aren’t approved for use with E10. This equates to around three per cent of total cars.

That being said, King claims one tankful of E10 “should not cause any problems” should someone mistakenly put the fuel into an “older E5 car”.

Labels have already been introduced at petrol stations to show motorists the biofuel content of each pump.