India has advised automobile makers to start manufacturing flex-fuel vehicles complying with India's latest emission standards the nation pushes to meet its commitment to cut carbon emissions.
“The automobile manufacturers in India have now been advised to start manufacturing flex fuel vehicles and flex fuel strong hybrid electric vehicles complying with BS-6 (Bharat Stage VI emission) norms in a time-bound manner within a period of six months,” Nitin Gadkari, minister of road transport and highways, said in a series of tweets. The move is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat'.
Flex-fuel vehicles can fully operate either on bio-ethanol or petrol or a blend of the two. The advisory applies to flex-fuel vehicles with strong hybrid-electric technology or higher battery capacity.
Higher percentages of ethanol will be blended in gasoline in the next five years, the statement said. India has been increasing blending of ethanol with petrol by incentivising sugar mills to divert excess cane to produce the biofuel.
The move will substitute India's import of petroleum as a fuel and provide direct benefits to farmers, Gadkari said. It will also drastically reduce greenhouse gases from vehicles on a "well-to-wheel" basis, Gadkari said, helping India boost it's plan in reducing total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030.
To accelerate the introduction of fuel-agnostic vehicles, the production-linked incentive scheme has included automobile and auto components of such engines, he said.
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