Nitin Gadkari asks automobile manufacturers to make FFV, FFV-SHEV

Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has urged automobile manufacturers in India to continue making Flex Fuel Vehicles (FFV) and Flex Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles (FFV-SHEV) in compliance with BS-6 Norms in a time-bound manner within six months.

This decision will drastically decrease greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles on a well-to-wheel basis and added that by majorly lowering greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, this move will help India comply with its commitment made at COP26 to reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030.

The road transport minister told the media that this transformation will aid in substituting India’s petroleum import for fuel and render direct advantages to farmers.

Gadkari said that the Flex Fuel Vehicles are capable of operating on a combination of 100% petrol or 100% bioethanol and their blends, along with strong Hybrid Electric technology in the case of FFV-SHEVs. Thus, shifting to FFV and FFV-SHEV vehicles will be in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and India’s policy of facilitating ethanol as a transport fuel.

Further in line with the centre’s initiatives of rolling out three E-100 ethanol dispensing stations at Pune on the occasion of World Environment Day, and MoPNG’s (Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas) regulation, which specifies that in addition to conventional fuel, the approved entities are required to install facility for marketing at least one new-generation alternate fuel viz, Bio-fuels, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Compressed Natural Gas(CNG), Electric vehicle charging points among others, complying with several statutory guidelines, immediate measures need to be taken to introduce flex-fuel engine vehicles.

Higher percentages of ethanol will likely be blended in gasoline in the coming five years, requiring the availability of flex engine vehicles.

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