I came across this letter dated May 2013 which may be usefull to some of us dependent on where you are from :-
From a very helpful lady. their official quote on the Ethanol matter... will also post in non-mb related forum.
"Dear Mr *****,
Thank you for contacting Esso Customer Care.
The majority of unleaded 95 Octane petrol sold in the UK contains 5%
ethanol as required under the Government’s Renewable Transport Fuels
Obligation (RTFO).
There is currently no requirement for renewable fuel (such as ethanol) to
be present in super unleaded (97 grade petrol). Esso super unleaded petrol
(Esso Energy Supreme) is ethanol free (except in Devon, Cornwall, the
Teesside area and Scotland) and we have no current intention to add ethanol
to Esso Energy Supreme in other areas of the UK.
We would therefore advise anyone who has concerns about the presence of
ethanol in petrol to use Esso Energy Supreme – providing they don’t fill up
in Devon or Cornwall, the Teesside area or Scotland.
The proportion of ethanol in 95 grade unleaded in the UK is expected to
increase to 10% in the next few years to meet increasing legislated
renewables content, bringing us into line with both France and Germany.
When this happens, the Government has legislated that super unleaded petrol
must be available at least until 1st January 2014 with no more than 5%
ethanol content. It remains to be seen whether the Government will decide
to extend that deadline, because the introduction of 10% ethanol in
unleaded in the UK has taken longer than originally envisaged.
Finally, you may be interested in the regulations relating to ethanol in
petrol. The RTFO was amended in 2009 and is listed under The Renewable
Transport Fuel Obligations (Amendment) Order 2009 Order 843 (
www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2...roduction/made). This
fulfils the requirements of the EU’s *Biofuels Directive of 8 May 2003 (
ec.europa.eu/energy/res/legis...s/en_final.pdf), *and
Directive 2009/28/EC of 23rd April 2009 (
eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/...16:0062:EN:PDF), which promoted the use of energy from renewable sources.
Yours sincerely,
Anett Furedi
Customer Care Assistant UK&Ireland
Customer Service, Fuels & Lubricants, EAME
+ UK Customer Care, ExxonMobil House, MP 300, Ermyn Way, Leatherhead,
Surrey, KT22 8UX ( 020 7136 1798 7 020 7026 4728 :"
Hope this is useful to some of you... anyone driving any MB over 10 years should avoid Ethanol!
The Professor.
I think this is the fuel Cheggy swears by