Germany recently began introducing gasoline containing a higher percentage of biofuels. But consumers have so far been skittish, leading to production chaos and shortages of traditional gasoline. Some politicians have called for laws mandating that biofuels be scrapped altogether. It began as a plan to reduce the amount of CO2 being pumped into European skies. But a European Union directive requiring gas stations to sell fuel with 10 percent ethanol content has hit a snag in Germany, where consumers are avoiding the new petrol -- known as E10 -- because it is harmful to some cars. Suppliers have had to slow down deliveries of the fuel, but extra quantities of E10 on hand have left less room for and shortages of traditional fuel in a number of stations given the extra demand. Even worse, because the law regulating the introduction of E10 to the German market foresees industry penalties should targets not be met, the average tank of standard gas may soon cost more. Those penalties will likely be passed on to consumers, to the tune of two cents per liter.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,749199,00.html