With the direct benefits to the farmers, the manufacturing call for the Flex-Fuel Vehicles and Flex Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles foresees the reduction of the fuel import through the manufacturing of the alternative fuel-based vehicle, which are complying with BS-6 emission standard norms.
By provoking the manufacturers to design, develop and manufacturer indigenously, ‘Make In India,’ till now was into the reduction of import and manufacturing the components in India itself.
But, now combining the ‘Make In India’ with the transition from conventional to sustainable fuels, the Government has urged the Auto and Automobile Manufacturers to manufacture Flex Fuel Vehicles (FFV) and Flex Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles (FFV-SHEV). The manufacturing of flex-fuel based vehicles has been time-bound with a period of six months in compliance with the latest emission standard BS-6 (Bharat Stage 6).
Synchronizing the Atmanirbhar Vision and the government’s policy of promoting ethanol as the transportation fuel, Flex-Fuel Vehicles are able to run on the strong Hybrid Electric Technology with a combination of 100 per cent petrol or 100 per cent bio-ethanol along with their blends.
“This move will drastically reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions from vehicles on a Well-to-Wheel basis, helping India to comply with its commitment made at COP26 to reduce the total projected carbon emissions by One Billion Tonnes by 2030,” remarks Nitin Gadkari, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister.
Notable is the government’s initiative of including the Automobile and Auto components and auto components of flex-fuel engines in the Production Linked Incentive Scheme, emphasizing shifting from fossil to alternative energy solutions.
Flex-Fuel Technology- The Visionary Market
Bifurcated into fuel type, blend type and region type, the flex-fuel market, which was valued at 63 billion dollars in 2020 is expected to reach 105.11 billion dollars by 2030 with the CAGR pace of 5.6%.
The data, attributing to the rising demand for carbon neutrality across the globe say that the stringent environmental regulation and the vehicle emission norms reserve the right to propagate the demand for flex-fuel engine and components manufacturing resulting in the adoption of sustainable automotive technologies.
It is expected that higher percentages of ethanol will be blended in gasoline in the next five years. This in turn will raise the demand for the availability of Flex-fuel vehicles.
The already taken initiatives such as initiatives of launching three E-100 ethanol dispensing stations at Pune on the occasion of World Environment Day, and MoPNG’s (Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas) regulation breed to the fact that invoking of the new generation alternative fuels such as Compressed Natural Gas(CNG), Bio-fuels, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), along with the establishment of EV charging points complying to authorized guidelines are immediate steps to be taken to introduce the flex-fuel vehicle manufacturing.
In addition to this, a steady plan for the Ethanol blending for the period, 2020-2025 has been made by the NITI Aayog admitting the Studious foundation of the Ethanol Blending Plan.
Recognized as a cost-effective and pollution-free substitute to other fuels, flex-fuel or flexible fuel is an alternative fuel forming out of gasoline, methanol or ethanol. Along with reducing the import bill, the impulse of flex-fuel based vehicle manufacturing can help to equalize the calorific value of fuel and ethanol thereby replacing the petrol pumps with ethanol pumps
