Union Minister of Road, Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has been advocating the use of ethanol blended fuels and flex fuel engines in vehicles. This in his opinion will cut India’s fuel import bills drastically and will also help in reducing vehicular pollution. One of the first automakers to have worked in that direction is Toyota, which has launched the pilot project on Flexi-Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicle Technology in the country. During the launch, the Toyota Corolla Altis FFV-SHEV, that has been imported from Toyota Brazil for the pilot project was unveiled.
This initiative marks Toyota’s first step to promote and create awareness on Ethanol as an important indigenous, carbon neutral energy pathway, along with the advanced Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicle technology of Toyota that can help India achieve self-reliance and contribute towards the national target of Carbon Net-Zero by 2070. Further, as a part of this project, collected data will be shared with the Indian Institute of Science, for conducting a deeper study about the well-to-wheel carbon emissions of Flexi Fuel and Strong Hybrid vehicles in the Indian context. In this regard, a Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
As one of the most appropriate solutions, ethanol holds tremendous potential for India as it is an Indigenous and clean energy source, that can significantly reduce fossil fuel consumption, the energy import bill and carbon emissions. Being agriculture based, higher use of ethanol as fuel will also increase farmer incomes and create new jobs, thereby boosting the rural economy besides increasing revenue for the Government from surplus sugar and food grains.
The Government has recently launched second-generation technologies for producing ethanol from agricultural residues like parali, which is currently otherwise burnt. This possibility will not only prevent severe air pollution but also help generate wealth from waste. India has already achieved 10% ethanol blending five months ahead of schedule. The implementation of 20% ethanol blending in petrol by 2025-26 is expected to substitute 86 million barrels of Gasoline, thereby leading to forex savings of Rs. 30,000 crores for India, as well as reducing 10 Million tons of carbon emissions. Given the huge potential of ethanol production that exists up to and beyond E20, these benefits can increase multi-fold with the introduction of Flexi Fuel Vehicle (FFV) technology, that can flexibly use higher ethanol blends from 20% to 85%.
Globally, many countries like Brazil have hugely benefited from large scale introduction of Flexi-fuel vehicles. In fact, in Brazil an innovative Flexi fuel-strong Hybrid electric vehicle technology has been introduced by Toyota Brazil, which has the lowest Well-to-Wheel (W2W) carbon emissions for any technology in the country. An FFV–SHEV has a Flexi Fuel engine and an electric powertrain, thus providing dual benefit of higher ethanol use and greater fuel efficiency, as it can run for significant time periods on its EV mode, wherein the engine is shut off. The FFV-SHEV has much higher economic multiplier benefits, as it can hasten local manufacturing of electric and flexi-fuel powertrain parts, thus providing a disruption free & low risk industry and energy transition. As this technology provides the opportunity to benefit from both electrification and bio-fuel energy pathways, it enables a faster reduction of fossil fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, as well as boosting the agrarian economy. There are many green energy pathways in electrification and alternate fuels that can help the transportation sector lower its dependence on fossil fuels, along with reducing carbon footprint.
According to Toyota clean technologies should be introduced based on each country’s unique requirements and context, so as to minimize fossil fuel usage and achieve carbon reduction in the fastest possible time.
Towards this direction, given India’s energy mix, its unique consumer profile and needs, infrastructure readiness, and the Government’s diversified efforts towards becoming ‘Atma Nirbhar’ in energy by 2047, Toyota says it is advancing solutions with greater agility, thereby introducing and supporting multiple clean technology pathways.
The author is a senior editor at carandbike.com