Toyota Kirloskar Motor has announced exchanging a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) to create awareness and promote the use of ethanol as a sustainable biofuel in India.
Through this MoU, TKM and ISMA aim to accelerate the adoption of ethanol as an indigenous alternate clean fuel, thereby contributing to our nation’s goal to lower its dependence on fossil fuels and carbon footprints.
The MoU exchange took place in the presence of the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, along with other Government officials at an event that marked the 120 years of establishment of the first sugar mill in Uttar Pradesh. From TKM, Sudeep S Dalvi - Senior Vice President & Chief Communication Officer, was present during this occasion.
Dalvi said, “In our constant endeavour to promote the adoption of sustainable mobility solutions across regions, we at Toyota believe that it is crucial to amplify in-depth understanding about ways and means to combat carbon emissions, beyond providing technologically advanced solutions, while achieving goals of carbon neutrality.”
Interestingly, at the said event, TKM demonstrated its Flexi-Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicle along with an experiential drive.
Aditya Jhunjhunwala, President, Indian Sugar Mills Association, noted that the association looks forward to working with TKM to enhance Ethanol awareness and encourage its wider adoption as a fuel in India.
Ethanol is a vital part of India's energy mix, and with this joint effort, the association is hopeful to contribute better to the larger goal of achieving self-reliance in energy, he added.
The Government of India has been actively promoting ethanol as a biofuel and has set an ambitious target to achieve 20% ethanol blending in gasoline by 2025. By 2025–2026, it is expected that 86 million barrels of gasoline will be replaced by 20% ethanol, saving India INR 30,000 crore in foreign exchange and reducing carbon emissions by ten million tonnes.
These benefits can be enhanced significantly with the advent of flexi fuel vehicle technologies, which can flexibly use higher ethanol blends from 20% to 85%, given the enormous potential of ethanol production that exists beyond capacity for E20 blends.
As an agriculture-based and domestically produced fuel source, higher use of ethanol will increase farmer incomes and create new jobs, thereby boosting the agrarian economy and reducing fossil fuel imports. The Government also recently launched second-generation technologies for producing ethanol from agricultural residues like agriculture waste (parali), which is currently otherwise burnt.
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