Auto industry needs to provide flexi-fuel vehicles at various price points to accelerate blended fuel technology adoption .

In an event organised by the auto industry body, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers [SIAM], the union ministers of petroleum and natural gas and housing and urban affairs stated that the Indian automobile industry needs to provide flexi-fuel vehicles at various price points quickly to accelerate the adoption of blended technology.The government will provide comprehensive support from the supply , policy and demand side for the sale of the flexi-fuel E10, which is a blend of 10 percent ethanol with the petrol, and the E20, which is a blend of 20 percent ethanol with the petrol.

Vehicles are the auto industry’s viable business proposition;

we need more options at various price points, including two-wheelers and three-wheelers, and we need them quickly. Hardeep Singh Puri, the minister for petroleum and natural gas, as well as housing and urban development, used the launch of Toyota’s first-of-its-kind pilot project on the flexi-fuel [FFV-SHEV] that can run on 100 percent ethanol in India last week to demonstrate how things are progressing on the blended fuel front.He also said the government is ready from the supply side to launch the E20 .

The union minister, Nitin Gadkari, launched this first pilot project on flex fuel strong hybrid electric vehicles [FFV–SHEV] on October 20, 2022 . which has been imported from Toyota Brazil for the pilot project . FFVs allow for greater ethanol substitution of gasoline because they can use any of the higher ethanol blends ranging from 20 percent to 100 percent.An FFV-SHEV has a flex-fuel engine and an electric power train, providing the dual benefit of higher ethanol use and greater fuel efficiency, as it can run in its EV mode for extended periods of time while the engine is turned off.

Target achievement:

Achieving the E20, which is blending with petrol by 2025, would help India save foreign exchange by about Rs 30,000 crores per annum . Hardeep Singh Puri also said that India will push for an international biofuel alliance when it assumes the presidency of the G20 in December this year .

Further , he said, we will utilise our G20 presidency to try and set up an international biofuel alliance . The number of petrol pumps selling bio fuels has more than tripled, from 29,897 in 2016-2017 to 67,641 in 2021-2022.He also says in his statement the India’s ethanol demand is poised to grow to 10.16 billion litres by the year 2025 . and also expanded the excise duty waiver for biofuels and will always consider how to prepare this even further in the future .