Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has said that new vehicles will be introduced which will run completely on ethanol. Speaking at an event in Nagpur on Sunday, the minister recalled that recently he had met the chairman of the Mercedes Benz company, which had launched an electric vehicle. Gadkari said, “He (chairman) told me that they will make only electric vehicles in future.” We are coming out with new vehicles which will run completely on ethanol. Bajaj, TVS and Hero scooters will run on 100 per cent ethanol,” he said. The minister said that he will launch Toyota’s Camry car in August, which will run on 100 per cent ethanol and generate 40 per cent electricity.
“If you compare it with petrol, it will be Rs 15 per liter because the rate of ethanol is Rs 60, while the rate of petrol is Rs 120 per litre. Also it will generate 40 per cent electricity. The average will be Rs 15.” per litre,” he said.
In February this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 20 per cent ethanol blended petrol at select petrol pumps across 11 states and union territories as part of a program to increase the use of the biofuel. After launching 20 per cent ethanol blended petrol, PM Modi said that the use of ethanol in petrol has been increased from 1.5 per cent in 2014 to 10 per cent and is now moving towards 20 per cent. Firstly, 15 cities of the country will be covered and 20 percent ethanol blending petrol pumps will be expanded across the country in the coming two years.
The ethanol used for the composition of flex fuel is generally obtained from a variety of plant, vegetable and organic sources. For example, Jatropha oil is one of the most researched sources of biofuel in our country. In addition, rice, corn and other oils can also be used to obtain ethanol of desired calorific value.