Is India Ready For Flex-Fuel Cars As Nitin Gadkari Unveils Toyota Corolla FFV

A flex-fuel-engined car can run on different types of fuel and can run on increased ethanol-blended fuel too. India has already achieved 10% ethanol blending in five months which is ahead of schedule.

Union Transport Minister Gadkari, Vikram Kirloskar, Vice Chairman Toyota Kirloskar, and others guests during FFV launch. ( Image Source :Somnath Chatterjee )

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has unveiled a new pilot project by Toyota with its imported Corolla Flexi-Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicle (FFV-SHEV). The car has been imported from Toyota Brazil for the pilot project. A flex-fuel-engined car can run on different types of fuel and can run on increased ethanol-blended fuel too. India has already achieved 10% ethanol blending in five months which is ahead of schedule while the next step is 20% ethanol blending in petrol by 2025-26.

Many markets like Brazil have flex-fuel cars including the car shown here which has a Flexi Fuel engine and an electric powertrain.

Flex Fuel Car - Fig 1

 

Hence, it provides the dual benefit of higher ethanol use and greater fuel efficiency since it can run for significant time periods on its EV mode, wherein the engine is off. Since the car is imported from Brazil, it is a left-hand drive unit and is here for a pilot project only.

As a part of this project, collected data will be shared with the Indian Institute of Science, for conducting a study about the well-to-wheel carbon emissions of FFV / FFV-SHEV in the Indian context. Increased ethanol blending will enable lower India's fuel expenditure and will lead to forex savings.

Other guests at the event were Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey, Union Minister of Heavy Industries, Bhupinder Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change and Shri. Rameswar Teli, Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas - Government of Delhi. Flex-fuel has many advantages since it is cheaper and easier to make than EVs and requires no external charging infrastructure plus also reduces emission levels as well.

The biggest advantage for the buyer is that it is also cheaper than regular petrol while not having any adverse effect on the engine.