New Delhi
The Ministry of
Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) issued a draft notification for blending
12% and 15% ethanol in petrol as automotive fuels. It has invited comments from
stakeholders within a period of 30 days.
The draft
notification stated that the Ministry would approve the newly manufactured
gasoline vehicles based on prevailing gasoline emission norms. The new vehicles
are fitted with spark-ignition engines compatible to run on ethanol-gasoline
blends of E-12 and E-15.
Earlier the
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had mentioned that the government was
contemplating making flex-fuel engines mandatory for the automobile industry.
He added that they could be an alternative to customers using 100% petrol or
bio-ethanol. He also observed that automakers in the US, Brazil and Canada were
producing the engines.
Gadkari further
noted that making flex-fuel engines mandatory will boost the Indian economy
because the country had a surplus of corn, sugar and wheat. After allocating
for domestic consumption and exports, the rest can be converted to ethanol. Ethanol was beneficial as
it was an import substitute, pollution-free, indigenous and cost-effective
option.
Last year the
government set a target of reaching 10% ethanol blending in petrol by 2022 and
20% by 2030. PM Narendra Modi advanced the 20% target to 2025 to cut pollution
and reduce import dependence.
Source – The Times of India
Image Source: Pixabay
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