Vlogger Sourav Joshi said on Monday that the low mileage of his Mercedes SUV was caused by an “engine problem” after he had earlier blamed E20 gasoline. Joshi’s new statement comes next Mercedes-Benz India has issued an advisory stating that all its BS VI petrol cars are fully compliant with E20 petrol.
“We visited the Mercedes service center, and they found that there was an issue with the engine, causing the mileage to drop. I apologize for the misunderstanding regarding E20 gasoline,” Joshi said in a post on Monday.
The vlogger explained that his intention was not to spread incorrect information or hurt anyone’s feelings.
“I cut that part accordingly,” he added, referring to his video.
However, the part where he spoke at E20 still went viral on other people’s social media.
What Sourav Joshi claimed earlier
Sourav Joshi, India’s most followed daily vlogger, recently shared a video on YouTube Claiming that the mileage of his luxury Mercedes-Benz car had decreased from 17 to 5 in just two days.
He said that his car’s efficiency dropped to an unprecedented level in just 48 hours. “Yesterday I showed you that the mileage of our car has decreased from 17 to 9,” Joshi told his audience. He added, “And do you know what happened today? Today I reached five… Look at this, it shows five miles.”
Joshi blamed the fuel available at local gas stations. “This is what happened because of ethanol,” he stressed. The blogger said that a full tank of fuel, which earlier offered a driving range of about 800 km, now displays an estimated range of only 480 km when refueling. He said the sharp drop made him concerned about possible mechanical damage to the German SUV’s gasoline engine.
“I don’t know when this car will break down… These days, I’m too afraid to refill gas,” he said.
Although the statement did not mention Joshi’s name, it did address his concerns about E20 gasoline.
“At Mercedes-Benz, customer safety, vehicle reliability and performance are of paramount importance to us. All Mercedes-Benz BS VI petrol vehicles are physically compliant with E20 fuel and are certified accordingly by the relevant authorities,” the German automaker said.
“We are happy to support customers with any technical queries. Mercedes-Benz remains committed to sustainable mobility,” the automaker added.
E20 controversy
E20 fuel is a blended motor fuel consisting of 20 percent ethanol and 80 percent gasoline. Fueling with E20 fuel in India has become a controversial issue amid claims that it can damage engines of older, incompatible vehicles and reduce mileage.
However, the government on Friday defended the ethanol-blended petrol program amid concerns over engine damage and mileage loss in vehicles using ethanol-blended fuel, saying the scheme helped the sugar economy, boosted farmers’ income and saved the country from floods. $1.90 lakh crore in foreign exchange since 2014-15.
