While most of the standard vehicles that we see on our roads can make do with 91 Octane fuel, it is the high-end cars and superbikes which have to struggle in order to find fuel with better octane rating. To cater to the demand of the owners of supercars and superbikes, Indian Oil has launched the country’s first 100 Octane petrol called XP100. A litre of XP100 petrol in Delhi will cost you INR 160, which is almost twice the cost of regular petrol!
More details
The previous highest Octane rating available was the 99 Octane rated Power 99 offered at select Hindustan Petroleum outlets.
This premium-grade petrol will initially be available in only 10 cities — Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Agra, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Pune, and Ahmedabad. However, IOC intends to soon provide XP100 100 Octane petrol in cities like Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Bhubaneswar. Currently, the petrol available in India has 91 Octane. But with XP100, India has entered the list of some select countries like the US, Germany, Malaysia, Indonesia, Israel, and Greece.
Official statement
Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel, said, “XP100 premium petrol will initially be available at select outlet of IOC in 10 cities — Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Agra, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad. The fuel is manufactured at IOC’s Mathura refinery in Uttar Pradesh and supplied at select petrol pumps. This is a testimony to India’s technological prowess and manufacturing it within our refineries is a shining example of Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India)”
Octane rating and its relevance
The Octane rating is the ability of the fuel to resist engine knock – the engine pinging or rattling sound that comes as a result of premature ignition of the compressed fuel in one or more cylinders. High octane fuels are used in high-performance engines such as turbocharged cars. In such machines, high octane fuels are required as they do not burn prematurely. Some car owners choose high octane fuel for use in their non-turbo powered vehicle but that is not advisable unless your car/bike explicitly needs the high octane fuel. Fuels with higher Octane rating are considered more premium as they have better resistance to knocking. Standard gasoline has an Octane rating of 91 which does the trick for most standard vehicles.