The Union government is mulling options to “launch a flex engine facility” that will encourage vehicle manufacturers to make vehicles hauled by engines consuming flex fuels – either 100% ethanol or 100% petrol.
Inaugurating MSME Prerana – the Indian Bank’s Business Mentoring Programme for MSMEs in Maharashtra earlier today, Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways and the Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the Government of India, talked about the idea of flex-fuels.
For years, Gadkari has been discussing the flex-fuel engines manufactured by OEMs in a few countries, including the US, Brazil and Canada. Taking a cue from these economies, where the vehicle makers offer several categories of vehicles hauled by engines running on flex-fuels, Gadkari mooted the idea of such engines in India.
“We are going to launch the flex engine facility to all the consumers in the country,” he said. According to him, there is no difference in cost between petrol and flex-fuel engines. It will be the consumer’s choice at the fuel station; he is free to decide to take 100% petrol or ethanol, the minister said.
“We are going to start the scheme in three months. Already the government has given permission to have 100% bio-ethanol pump,” he said. As there is huge potential for ethanol available in several states, including UP, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, “we can save our oil imports and our ecology,” he noted.
Earlier, the Minister recalled the government’s decision to blend 20% ethanol in petrol, extracted from sugarcane juice and food grains.
According to him, making ethanol from rice and wheat is possible, and the government is permitting it due to its availability and enormous potential. “It is a green fuel, import substitute and cost-effective,” he noted.
The Minister mentioned that TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto have already showcased two-wheelers that can run on ethanol. It may be recalled that a couple of years ago, TVS Motor launched its performance bike Apache RTR 200 Fi E100, which is India’s first-ethanol powered motorcycle. Similarly, Bajaj Auto was also working on those lines.
In fact, use of ethanol as a fuel is not new in India. In the early 1980s, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was honoured by the College of Engineering, Guindy in the erstwhile Madras (now Chennai) by giving an experience in a bus that ran on fuel blended with ethanol. Also, Indian Railways had tested its diesel locomotives using a blend of Jatropha bio-diesel during early 2000.
Several passenger car makers including Mercedes Benz India and construction equipment manufacturer JCB India were also working on Jatropha-based bio-diesel solutions.
Talking about the economics of ethanol as a fuel for the automotive industry, Gadkari said the price of ethanol is about INR 62, while the price of petrol is about INR 100. Though the calorific value is less, still there is a saving of INR 25 per litre to the consumer, he added.
NB: Photo is representational. Courtesy: NITI Aayog.