Govt plans advisory on flex engines to boost ethanol use
The government will soon come up with an advisory on flex engines for automobile makers that will allow the manufacture of vehicles that would run both on petrol and 100% ethanol.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister, Nitin Gadkari on Friday said that guidelines for use and development of flex engines were ready and soon an advisory may be issued by the government paving the for their introduction in India.
“Bajaj Auto is already ready with their flex engine-driven autorickshaw models while the company along with TVS are already making use of flex engines in two-wheelers. Toyota, Suzuki and Hyundai have also said they would bring flex engines. This would help the high proliferation of these less polluting vehicles in the country soon after advisory on such engines are issued,” Gadkari said speaking at the national conference on investment opportunities in highway and logistics in Mumbai.
The use of flex engines will allow for running vehicles on 100% ethanol.
Apart from less polluting, ethanol run vehicles would also be cost-effective for commuters as the cost of petrol is over ₹100 per litre while the cost of a litre of ethanol would come to around ₹62 per litre, Gadkari said adding that countries like the USA, Canada and Brazil are already using this technology with great success.
He also said that his ministry with the petroleum ministry is also undertaking R&D for bringing the calorific value of ethanol at par with petrol presenting a lesser problem for vehicles for making the switch to cleaner fuel.
Gadkari said that apart from reducing pollution on roads use of flex engines would also save the country ₹8 lakh crore of fuel imports.
Earlier, speaking at the event Gadkari called on the investors to actively invest in the country’s road and highways development programme that have now become high revenue-generating projects giving higher internal rate of returns (IRR) to investors.
The minister also said that his ministry is in talks with market regulator SEBI to allow it to rope in small investors into the country’s infrastructure development programme with permission to make small investments in InvITs and get higher returns over their investment in banks.
“We can provide small investors, especially senior citizens to Karl their savings into InvITs that will not only provide them over 2-3% higher interest rate but also give them the option to getting returns on a monthly basis,” the minister said.
He also expressed concern over the continuing high logistics cost that remains at around 14-16% level against 8-10% in China, 12-13% in the USA.
The minister said that lower logistic costs would support faster economic growth and in that direct government’s new logistics park scheme would come handy that would provide linkages to multi-modal transport systems integrating the process and helping to make transportation efficient and cost-effective.