Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has launched a new premium grade petrol in India called 'XP100'. The numeric value here denotes the Octane rating, which is 100 for this new grade oil. The price of XP100 is Rs 160/litre in Delhi, a premium of Rs 77.66 over the price of regular petrol. To be precise, the regular petrol available in India is rated as 91 octanes.
In the initial phase, the XP100 fuel will be only available in 10 cities, including Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Agra, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad. These cities have been selected on the basis of the availability of high-end luxury cars and bikes. In the second phase, Indian Oil will expand XP100's availability to Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bhubaneswar.
What is the Octane rating?
An octane rating or octane number is a standard measure of the performance of fuel for internal combustion engines. It measures fuel stability. The high-octane fuel is used to reduce the engine knocking (premature combustion), which is a condition where the fuel auto-ignites because of the heat and pressure within the cylinders and this could cause significant engine damage over time. Hence, the higher the octane number is, the more compression the fuel can withstand before detonating.
Which type of cars requires high octane fuel?
The high-octane fuel is mainly required for the high-performance bikes & cars like Mercedes-Benz AMG range, BMW M range, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porche, RR, etc. The benefits of using octane rich fuel include higher resistance to knock, better mileage, faster acceleration, and greater engine output.
As mentioned above, the normal petrol available in India is rated at 91 Octane and it is most suitable for the mass-market vehicles.
