Nitin Gadkari: India is the world's fastest growing auto market. Recently, trials of ethanol and CNG-powered vehicles have been conducted in India and the country's Road Transport Minister Gadkari has made a symbolic statement that India's future will be ethanol-powered vehicles.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that Indian auto companies will soon produce 100 percent ethanol-powered cars and two-wheelers in the country. At present, ethanol is being mixed in petrol and sold across the country and most of the country's vehicle manufacturers are working on flex-fuel technology. Under this technology, the car can run on both petrol and ethanol.
The Union minister arrived at Parliament this week in a car powered by a flex-fuel engine. “This is the world's first vehicle with a flexi-engine and it also complies with Euro 6 emission norms, meaning it is a net zero emission car. This car runs on ethanol made from sugarcane juice, jaggery and corn,” Gadkari said.
Recently, Toyota announced that they will set up a plant in India to manufacture flex-fuel cars locally. The manufacturing facility will be set up in Aurangabad, Maharashtra at an investment of Rs 20,000 crore.
Gadkari said Tata Motors and Suzuki are also working on making vehicles with 100 per cent ethanol or flexi-fuel engines.
Gadkari said that not only in the passenger vehicle sector but also in the Indian two-wheeler market, auto companies like Bajaj Auto, TVS and Hero MotoCorp are making motorcycles and scooters running on flex-fuel engines. Like petrol pumps, now our farmers will also have ethanol pumps.