Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has said that from 1st April 2023 onwards, vehicles introduced in the market have been made E20 material compliant. In a reply in the Lok Sabha today, Mr Gadkari said the automobile Industry is ready with two-wheeler Flex Fuel Vehicles FFV for the introduction in the market in 3rd Quarter of the current financial year. He said, some of the automobile manufacturers have already announced the flex fuel vehicle and others are getting it ready.
The Minister said, that for four-wheelers, the automobile industry has committed to introduction in the Financial Year 2025-26. Accordingly, 11 units of Two-wheeler FFV manufactured by seven Original Equipment Manufacturers OEMs, five units of four-wheelers from five OEMs and one unit of three-wheeler from one OEM are being displayed in the upcoming Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025.
Mr Gadkari said the government is promoting biofuels with the broader objectives of reducing import dependency, generating employment, providing better remuneration to farmers, for associated environmental benefits and promoting better waste management practices. He said, that to promote the use of biofuels across the country various programmes such as the Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme, wherein Oil Marketing Companies OMCs sell petrol blended with ethanol, the Biodiesel Blending Programme wherein biodiesel is blended with diesel and Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation SATAT initiative wherein Compressed Bio Gas is marketed along with Compressed Natural Gas CNG have been taken up.
The Minister said, that during the last ten years, ethanol blending in petrol by Public Sector OMCs has resulted in approximate savings of more than one lakh eight thousand 655 crore rupees of foreign exchange as of 30th September this year and net CO2 emissions reduction of about 557 lakh metric tonnes. He said, during the period of 2014 to 2024 ethanol blending percentage rose from 1.53 per cent in the Ethanol Supply Year ESY 2013-14 to 14.6 per cent in ESY 2023-24. Mr Gadkari said, that to facilitate the development of Motor Vehicles running on non-fossil fuels like Bio-CNG and Biofuels, the Government has notified mass emission standards in respect of blends of ethanol with gasoline, flex-fuel, Biodiesel, Bio-CNG, blends of Methanol with gasoline and dual fuel.
