Auto firms to start making flex-fuel vehicles within 6 months-Gadkari

Union minister Nitin Gadkari has said that automobile companies will start manufacturing flex-fuel vehicles within six months. Addressing a Global Business Summit, he said, most vehicles in India will soon run on 100 percent ethanol. Flex-fuel or flexible fuel is an alternative fuel with a combination of gasoline and methanol or ethanol. Gadkari further said the government is working on a plan to shift public transport to 100 per cent clean energy sources. He  said companies like TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto have already started producing flex-fuel engines for their two and three-wheelers. He said now farmers are making bio-ethanol from rice, corn, and sugarcane juice.Government is enabling the use of various alternate fuels in an effort to shift from fossil fuels. Automobile and auto components of flex-fuel engines have been included in the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.

NITI Aayog has formulated the roadmap for ethanol blending for the period 2020-2025 to accelerate the introduction of flex-fuel vehicles. Gadkari also said the government is working to encourage the use of green hydrogen and other alternative fuels. The minister pointed out that presently India imports crude oil worth Rs 8 lakh crore and it can go up to Rs 25 lakh crore in the next five years. "We are facing crucial problems because there is a war between Russia and Ukraine and I feel that it is really a big challenge," he said. So, the only option, Gadkari noted, is alternative fuels like bio-ethanol and LNG, which are import substitutes, cost-effective, and pollution-free.