Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 Flex Fuel Tested at India’s First E85 Pump

Suzuki took the Gixxer SF 250 Flex Fuel to India’s first E85 dispensing station this week, a freshly opened Indian Oil outlet on Pusa Road in New Delhi. The June 13, 2026 test ride video is the first time a flex-fuel sports bike has run on a pump built for the high-ethanol blend.

E85, a mix of up to 85% ethanol and 15% petrol, retails at Rs 82.12 per litre at the Pusa Road pump. The station sits at the centre of a rollout that federal petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri says will reach 5,000 outlets by December 2027. The rollout’s real customer base is a domestic two-wheeler fleet of more than 300 million vehicles. Every major Indian manufacturer is now offering or developing a flex-fuel model aimed at that fleet.

What Just Happened at the Pusa Road Pump

The Business Today crew took the Gixxer SF 250 Flex Fuel out of Delhi’s stop-and-go traffic and onto the forecourt of an Indian Oil outlet that, until days before, had no public E85 history. The station, the country’s first, was inaugurated on June 5, 2026 by Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s federal minister for petroleum and natural gas.

Business Today describes the test as a real-world performance run rather than a controlled lab check. The crew focused on how the bike’s heavily re-engineered, ethanol-resistant fuel system and updated, adaptive ECU coped with thermal stability under high ethanol concentrations, and on whether the Gixxer SF 250’s sporty character survived a city loop.

The video also visits the economics of running a flex-fuel sports bike. E85 at the Pusa Road pump is priced lower than standard petrol, per Business Today, and the segment with the most to benefit from the gap is the commuter two-wheeler.

The Bike Itself, Re-Engineered for E85

Suzuki launched the Gixxer SF 250 Flex Fuel at Auto Expo 2025 at Rs 2.17 lakh ex-showroom, Delhi, per Autocar India. The same story lists the standard Gixxer SF 250 between Rs 1.92 lakh and Rs 2.06 lakh ex-showroom, Delhi. Power comes from a 249cc, single-cylinder, oil-cooled engine, per BikeDekho’s Auto Expo 2025 launch coverage. The engine produces 27.9PS on E85 and 27.2PS on E20 at 9,300rpm, with 22.5Nm of torque at 7,300rpm on both blends.

To run on ethanol up to E85, the bike gets a new fuel injector, fuel pump, ECU, fuel filter, intake and exhaust valves, and fuel gauge, per Autocar India. The design, instrument cluster, LED lighting, and chassis are unchanged. Two colour options are available, per The Bike Junction’s Gixxer SF 250 Flex Fuel overview: Metallic Mat Black No.2 and Metallic Mat Bordeaux Red. Suzuki has not published a separate fuel-economy figure for the Flex Fuel variant.

The Fuel and Its Price Tag

The Pusa Road pump dispenses E85, a fuel the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas defines as 80-85% ethanol and 14-19% petrol, specifically engineered for flex-fuel vehicles. DNA India’s report on the first E85 fuel pump recorded the Delhi price at Rs 82.12 per litre, considerably cheaper than the E20 petrol currently sold in the city. Business Today described the E85 price as significantly lower than standard petrol without naming a figure. The price gap is the central economic argument for flex-fuel vehicles.

Only 48 fuel pumps run by state-owned oil marketing companies were dispensing E85 at launch, per a ministry statement reported by ICIS’s coverage of India’s 85% ethanol blend launch. The first phase covers New Delhi plus Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur in Maharashtra. The ministry said the network would be scaled to 500 fuel stations by December 2026 and about 5,000 fuel outlets by December 2027, per the same ICIS report and DNA India. No private-sector pumps are in the first wave.

For now, the regular E20 blend, 20% ethanol and 80% petrol, remains the nationwide mandate, per ICIS. The government’s stated aim is to lift the average ethanol share to E27, 27% ethanol, by 2030.

E85 Rollout in Numbers

• Ethanol content: 80-85% ethanol, 14-19% petrol (per the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, via Xinhua’s coverage of the E85 rollout)
• Delhi pump price: Rs 82.12 per litre at the Pusa Road Indian Oil outlet (per DNA India)
• Initial pumps: 48 fuel stations run by state-owned oil marketing companies (per ICIS)
• Year-end 2026 target: 500 E85 fuel stations (per ICIS and DNA India)
• Year-end 2027 target: about 5,000 E85 fuel outlets (per ICIS and DNA India)

Why a 300-Million-Strong Fleet Is the Real Prize

India runs one of the world’s largest two-wheeler fleets, with more than 300 million active vehicles, per the petroleum ministry’s flex-fuel launch statement on the Hero MotoCorp flex-fuel launch on June 3, 2026. That is the market the E85 rollout is really chasing. A 250cc sports bike is a flag-bearer, not the volume play.

Hero MotoCorp became the first major Indian two-wheeler maker to put a mass-market flex-fuel motorcycle on sale when it unveiled the Splendor+ Flex Fuel and HF Deluxe Flex Fuel in New Delhi on June 3, 2026, per the same PIB release. Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari was present at the event. The two motorcycles can run on any blend of petrol and ethanol from E20 to E85, the release states.

Honda’s CB300F Flex Fuel is already on sale in India, per Autocar India. DNA India reports a Maruti Suzuki WagonR Flex Fuel is in the pipeline for passenger cars. The E20 milestone, 20% ethanol in petrol, was achieved five years ahead of schedule, per the petroleum minister’s June 5, 2026 statement.

The race now is to scale. The Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 Flex Fuel is the only sports bike in the lineup. Business Today’s Pusa Road test is the first time a 250cc class machine has been filled up at a commercial E85 station. The rest of the flex-fuel volume is expected to come from the commuter segment, which has more to gain from cheaper ethanol and more to lose if pump density stalls.

Flex-Fuel Two-Wheelers Confirmed or Expected in India

• Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 Flex Fuel (on sale since Auto Expo 2025)
• Hero MotoCorp Splendor+ Flex Fuel (launched June 3, 2026)
• Hero MotoCorp HF Deluxe Flex Fuel (launched June 3, 2026)
• Honda CB300F Flex Fuel (already on sale)
• Maruti Suzuki WagonR Flex Fuel (upcoming, per DNA India)

The Fuel Chain Behind the Pump

Ethanol blending in India climbed from 1.53% in 2014 to 20% today, federal minister Puri said at the Pusa Road inauguration, per China.org’s English report on the inauguration. India’s broader crude oil import bill frames the stakes: the country imports nearly 88.5% of the crude oil it consumes, per the petroleum ministry’s PIB release on the Hero launch.

Between ethanol season year 2014-15 and now, the blending programme has saved India Rs 1.84 lakh crore in foreign exchange, substituted 302 lakh metric tonnes of crude oil, and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 909 lakh metric tonnes, per the same PIB release. The programme has also added Rs 1.58 lakh crore in earnings for Indian farmers, the release states. Scaling that further, the petroleum ministry estimated that 1% adoption of flex-fuel vehicles among India’s annual petrol vehicle sales in ethanol season year 2026-27 would generate 4 crore litres of ethanol demand, deliver Rs 266 crore to distilleries, and save Rs 195 crore in foreign exchange. That same 1% would channel roughly Rs 160 crore directly to Indian farmers, per the release. The distillers and sugarcane growers are framed as the upstream beneficiaries of every new E85 pump.

What It Means at the Pump

Federal minister Puri, speaking at the Hero MotoCorp launch on June 3, 2026, said studies indicate that if E85 fuel is priced appropriately lower than E20, consumers can recover the cost of a flex-fuel vehicle within approximately three years through fuel savings alone. The statement is a claim, not a guarantee, and it carries the qualifier that the price differential has to hold. The figure of approximately three years is for the full vehicle cost, not a partial offset.

The math depends on three things: a sustained gap between E85 and E20 at the pump, a dense enough E85 network that flex-fuel owners can actually find the fuel, and the right vehicle in the driveway. The current E20 mandate is unchanged, per ICIS. The E27 target by 2030 is aspirational. None of those conditions is fully in place for the Gixxer SF 250 Flex Fuel at the time of the June 13, 2026 test.

Studies indicate that if E85 fuel is priced appropriately lower compared to E20, consumers can recover the cost of the vehicle within approximately three years through fuel savings achieved due to the lower price of fuel.

The petroleum ministry’s PIB release, dated June 3, 2026, put the attribution on the federal minister, with the wider ethanol chain framed as the system’s quiet second winner. Scaling to 5,000 outlets by December 2027 is the test. The two-wheeler segment is the volume bet.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is E85 fuel?

E85 is a high-ethanol blended fuel containing 80% to 85% ethanol and 14% to 19% petrol, according to India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. It is designed for flex-fuel vehicles that can run on ethanol blends from E20 all the way to E100, with no separate tank required.

Which vehicles can run on E85 in India?

Only flex-fuel vehicles engineered for high ethanol content can use E85. Confirmed or announced E85-compatible models in India include the Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 Flex Fuel, the Hero MotoCorp Splendor+ Flex Fuel and HF Deluxe Flex Fuel, the Honda CB300F Flex Fuel, and the upcoming Maruti Suzuki WagonR Flex Fuel. Regular petrol vehicles are not designed for E85.

How much does E85 cost in India?

E85 was priced at Rs 82.12 per litre at the Indian Oil outlet on Pusa Road in New Delhi when the station opened in June 2026, per DNA India. Business Today described the price as significantly lower than standard petrol in the same city. The E85 pump remains the only source of the fuel in Delhi at the time of the June 13, 2026 test.

When will E85 fuel be available outside Delhi?

India’s petroleum and natural gas ministry said the E85 rollout would be scaled to 500 fuel stations by December 2026 and to about 5,000 fuel outlets by December 2027, per ICIS and DNA India. The first phase, beyond Delhi, covers Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur in Maharashtra. The network is then expected to expand to major Indian cities.