The world needs biofuel in 2026 perhaps more than ever before, which has sparked a debate about whether existing vehicles should be tweaked to use more readily available biofuels or if it is worth taking the time to develop drop-in alternatives.
Whilst the storage infrastructure with its pressure relief systems is in place, producing biofuels is a delicate process made more complex by the need to add additional adulterants in order for it to more closely resemble conventional petrol or diesel.
Given that some countries are struggling to meet demand as it stands, it does provoke the question of whether the fuel needs to change or the cars do.
What is interesting is that the right answer largely depends on the country’s infrastructure, agricultural system, access to biomass and overall motoring market.
Should The Car Be Made To Fit The Biofuel?
Generally, access to the agricultural resources to take advantage of a surplus of crops or biomass is vital to the success of a transition campaign, and there is no better example of this than Brazil, because they did not just change the fuel but the car itself.
In 1973, in the wake of one of the most impactful oil crises in human history, many countries introduced rationing and shorter work days to save vital energy resources.
Pure Ethanol
Brazil took a more radical route, aided by access to a plentiful crop that could supply them with the answer.
The National Alcohol Programme (Pro-Alcool) was a concerted effort by the Brazilian government from 1975 onwards to develop a motoring infrastructure built around biofuel.
Brazil had plentiful amounts of sugar cane, which at the time was very cheap, plentiful and had been grown to surplus. Rather than leaving it to rot, it was refined into bioethanol and used to power cars.
However, unlike modern biofuel programmes which largely focus on blending as much as possible into existing fuel infrastructure, Brazil designed two entirely new classes of cars.
The first was a range of neat ethanol cars beginning with the Fiat 147 in 1979, which exclusively used pure ethanol and could be far cheaper to run in a good harvest.
Flex-Fuel Cars
As well as this, the government would set an annual biofuel blend, which often far exceeded some of the most ambitious biofuel blends seen today.
For example, India’s biofuel blend as of 1st April 2025 is E20, or 20 per cent ethanol to 80 per cent petrol. Brazil hit that mark in 1978 and has not been lower than it since 2011. At present, the biofuel blend is 27 per cent.
This was made possible thanks to the development of flex-fuel cars, which, whilst relatively new to the Indian market, have been used in Brazil since 2003, when the VW Gol (the Brazilian version of the Golf) was capable of using any ethanol fuel.
Most flex-fuel cars are designed to run on a blend up to E85, whilst some in Brazil can use E100 fuel, and the popularity of the cars in the nation is phenomenal.
In just four years, flex-fuel car sales went from under 40,000 to 1.7m, aided by the Pro-Alcool programme of the 1970s.
Is that replicable in countries which took another approach to the fuel crisis? Almost certainly not, so what is the alternative?
Should The Biofuel Be Made To Fit The Car?
The advantage Brazil has over the rest of the world when it comes to biofuels is a decades-long head start, so what can a country do to maximise the use of biofuels if they took a different path?
The general answer is to focus on drop-in fuels, which are sustainable fuels specifically designed to work with existing engines.
This is an extension of the blended fuel idea; the reason why most countries do not offer fuel blends beyond E20 is that most cars made after 2000 are made with E20 fuel in mind, and anything beyond it can damage seals and components.
Given that people tend to keep their car for years before buying a new one and the used car market means that decades-old cars are still available to buy, it is easier to shape biofuel around the cars on the market rather than expect people to buy new cars.
Should Cars Even Use Biofuel?
A further question is whether cars should even use biofuel or whether it should be saved for shipping and aviation.
The case for this is that whilst aircraft and large shipping vessels require some form of fuel to efficiently travel from place to place, the rise of the electric vehicle means that there is a viable replacement that does not require the use of vital biofuel reserves.
Ultimately, any movement towards green technologies will help, and it is important to meet people where they are. If they cannot afford an EV, green fuel will work as a compromise.
