Back in early 2020, the media was buzzing with what we could call the E10 panic. Article after article warned that “the new fuel will ruin your ride.” For some reason, people seem to love being scared—apparently Hitchcock just doesn’t cut it anymore, and EU bureaucrats are now scarier than The Birds.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, the EU mandates that both diesel and gasoline must contain a bio-component for climate protection reasons. But does that really mean the fuel will wreck your car?
Eventually, the panic died down. But now that fuel prices have skyrocketed and only E10 is subject to a government price cap in some countries, the topic has resurfaced. A caller even brought it up recently on a radio motoring show. As usual, the expert on air hesitated and gave the classic noncommittal answer: “Only the car’s manufacturer can say for sure.” Which, of course, is the safest and most correct response—after all, no radio expert wants to end up in court just because someone’s car had an issue and blamed it on the radio show. Let the manufacturer take the heat.
In reality, putting alcohol in the tank isn’t such a crazy idea. The environmental logic is straightforward: bio-components are ultimately derived from plants, which absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. So whatever CO₂ your car emits from burning biofuel was already in the air—it’s a closed cycle, adding neither more nor less CO₂ overall. Fossil fuels, on the other hand, contain carbon that’s been buried underground for millions of years. Burning them releases carbon that had long been removed from the cycle, directly increasing atmospheric CO₂ levels.
Transportation burns a tremendous amount of fuel. Even if we replace only a fraction of it with bio-components, the benefits can be significant. This idea isn’t new: the EU directive mandating a certain percentage of ethanol blending came out back in 2012. In Hungary, the requirement is regulated by Government Decree 343/2010. (XII. 28.). Before that, gasoline already contained some bio-component—around 5%—whereas E10 contains double that.
As a rule of thumb, cars manufactured after around 1989–1992 can run on fuels containing 5–10% ethanol without any modifications or special additives.
In some countries (such as Paraguay, Brazil, Thailand, and the Netherlands), fuels with even higher ethanol content are available. In such cases, small modifications to the fuel system may be necessary to ensure proper operation.
The blending of ethanol into gasoline is not a new idea at all—it’s been used as a combustion improver since the 1910s, though usually only in very small amounts (a few thousandths by volume). Producing ethanol for fuel isn’t cheap, and it comes with some drawbacks: its energy content is about 30% lower than that of gasoline, it can absorb water, it’s corrosive, and it increases fuel evaporation.
Because of these disadvantages, fuel producers often supplement ethanol with other compounds to meet bio-component content regulations—namely methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE). These additives also act as octane boosters.
Lately, it’s mostly owners of older cars who panic over the possibility that these additives might damage their vehicles. But the fact is that ethanol-blended fuel has a long history in Hungary too. As early as the 1920s, a fuel called “Motalko” was sold that contained 20% ethanol. And let’s not forget that Henry Ford ran his cars on pure ethanol without any trouble.
That said, even back then, experts warned that ethanol can dissolve certain types of plastic and may cause damage to parts of the fuel system.
Norte: During World War II, fuel and many other goods were distributed through a strict rationing system. People received coupons that entitled them to limited amounts of gasoline, diesel, kerosene, and even Motalko. The goal was to ensure fair access to scarce resources and prioritize military and essential use. Rationing remained in place in many countries well after the war ended, as supply chains took time to recover.
During the war years, due to a shortage of copper, many manufacturers replaced the copper sheet floats in carburetors with lacquered cork versions. That, however, occasionally caused problems, as ethanol could dissolve the lacquer coating. Still, Motalko didn’t disappear because of technical issues—it was simply more expensive than regular gasoline. Or rather, it never completely disappeared: for example, at the famous filling station of Tasziló Landthaller along Route 7, near the Memento Park Museum, Motalko was still available even in recent years.
Note: The filling station was originally built in 1936 by Tasziló Landthaller’s father. “Taszi bácsi” (Uncle Taszi) had planned for his son, young Tasziló, to take over the business. The son worked at the station for three years, but one evening, just before closing, he was attacked by armed robbers. The incident left him physically and emotionally shaken; he later suffered a thrombosis and passed away. In the summer of 2017, Uncle Taszi and his wife, Aunt Magdi, decided to close the station for good. You can read more about the station’s earlier history in this Totalcar article.
With minimal modifications, most modern cars can run on high-ethanol blends—just as they do in Brazil, where such fuels are widely used. In several African countries, gasoline contains over 30% ethanol, and even very old cars manage just fine with it.
Public opinion often claims that E10 leads to higher fuel consumption. However, a study conducted under controlled conditions by Finland’s VTT Technical Research Centre in 2011 showed practically no difference in fuel consumption under normal driving conditions between Finland’s 95E10 and 98E5 fuels.
So What’s the Problem with E10?
The E10 controversy was sparked by German journalist Guido Reinking, who wrote in his blog that the introduction of E10 in Germany had caused an “almost civil war atmosphere” among suspicious motorists. Sensationalist newspapers jumped on the story and blew it out of proportion. Even though no such panic had existed before, people believed there was one—and then it became real. Reinking later insisted that he hadn’t meant it literally, only that many drivers boycotted stations that didn’t offer E5 fuel. But by then, the damage was done. No one conducted thorough testing—only alarmists kept inflating the bubble.
Eventually, Reinking published an article titled “Three Years of E10 – A Review” in the July 2014 issue of Oldtimer Markt. In it, he reported on detailed lab tests: carburetors, valves, piston rings, seals, fuel filters and lines, tanks, and pumps were exposed to both E5 and E10 under controlled conditions. The results surprised laypeople—E5 actually had a worse effect on aluminum parts and fuel lines than E10. But to chemists, this was no surprise at all.
Years have passed since E10 has been widely used in Germany, and neither manufacturers, mechanics, nor auto clubs have reported failures caused by the higher ethanol content.
Still, people don’t like to face facts—and they forget quickly. They don’t want to acknowledge that owning a car means not only buying it, but maintaining it. There’s no such thing as an eternal gasket or fuel hose—these plastic and rubber parts degrade over time and need to be replaced. But blaming the fuel is easier than admitting that a hose should have been swapped out years ago.
Let’s also not forget the hysteria surrounding the introduction of unleaded gasoline. Back then, there was no Facebook for everyone to spread nonsense—just “automotive journalists” predicting mass extinction for old Soviet-bloc cars like the Lada, Wartburg, and Dacia. In the end, those old cars kept running happily on unleaded fuel for years. They weren’t scrapped because the fuel destroyed their engines, but because the bodies rusted through, the seat cushions crumbled, the headliner sagged, and the window cranks broke off.
These kinds of images are often used to illustrate the supposed horrors caused by ethanol. Some of them do look pretty nasty—but anyone with even a little technical knowledge quickly realizes they’re fake or misleading. Personally, my favorite is the rusted-out engine bay in the middle: what did they do, pour E10 all over the engine compartment until the whole body shell corroded away? Be cautious when searching for such images online! Sure, Google will find them—but if you actually click through to the website spreading the nonsense, you might end up with more than just bad information. Hackers know that people gullible enough to believe these stories are also more likely to download malware along with them.
Let’s get serious for a moment, dear Reader—can you really imagine any fuel producer putting a product on the market that damages cars? That MOL’s lawyers would risk even for a second the possibility of being sued—and worse, losing—because of fuel-related damage? Let’s be honest: they’re not that stupid. Unlike those who keep spreading nonsense and scaremongering without the slightest clue what they’re talking about.
This is when the vultures of human gullibility show up—offering miracle additives that supposedly “protect” your car from MOL’s “dangerous” new fuel. Take a closer look: none of these additives list their ingredients. There are no lab tests, no regulatory approval numbers on the label. Not that they’d need one—the authorities only care about collecting excise taxes when it comes to fuel additives. Beyond that, you can pour whatever you like into your tank.
But do you really want to pour in a mystery liquid you know nothing about—just because a magazine said you should? Best case, the additive does absolutely nothing. Some manufacturers even write on the label: “Does not alter fuel quality.” Well then, what’s the point? Worst case, the stuff isn’t homeopathic—it contains something that actually does harm. And once it’s in your tank, you can’t go complaining to MOL. They’ll just smile and say: prove it—or go argue with the additive’s manufacturer. You won’t be able to deny using it either; the lab will find it, and you’ll be stuck with the bill for that expensive analysis.
Every hype fades after a few days—give it a few months, and no one will even remember this one. But until then, much water will flow down the Danube, alarmists will keep scaring people, and the peddlers of nonsense will keep cashing in.
If you’re really unsure, check out www.e10tanken.de, where you can look up your car model to see whether ethanol might be an issue. For most vehicles—except for a few older models from the early ’90s or earlier—the answer is reassuringly simple: it won’t.
Thinking drivers would do well to follow the advice of the German Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club (ADAC): fill up with E10 without fear—and don’t mix it with anything.