Industry Odisha Bureau, April 20: Bearing the brunt of the West Asia conflict aggravated by the Hormuz hurdle that has severely disrupted fossil fuel imports, Government of India (GoI) is believed to be exploring ways and means to reduce the oil import dependence by implementing the nationwide use of Flex-Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) claimed to run on ethanol-petrol blends – up to 85 per cent of ethanol (E85) and 15 per cent of petrol (P15).
Notably, India has already introduced the 20 per cent ethanol blending mandate last year (2025) amid the public outcry against such a mandate, because the vehicle users are reportedly infuriated at the bitter experience of reduction in mileage as well as performance of the vehicle engine.
Sources revealed that the Indian auto industry is on tenterhooks before the launching of FFVs in the country. While the auto manufacturers seek GoI’s clarity on the pricing of blended fuels, distribution of the blended fuel at the retail fuel stations, and above all the incentives to be given to the auto industry for producing such FFVs due to the more costs to be incurred than producing a petrol-driven vehicle.
Reports said that, FFVs are being extensively used in Brazil since their introduction there in 2003.
Reports also said that, there is a surplus in production of ethanol in India as the current capacity stands at 20 billion litres in comparison to the 11 billion litres demand under India’s E20 programme.
Hence, sources claimed that the ethanol producers have been lobbying hard that the GoI should push for more ethanol blends for which the FFV implementation push at the earliest could serve the purpose of both the surplus ethanol producers and the GoI seeking to axe its fossil fuel import dependence.
Sources further revealed that the 20 per cent blending of ethanol in vehicles has enabled the coffers of GoI to gain foreign exchange savings to a tune of around $19.3 billion, while the direct payment made to the sugarcane farmers of India is estimated to be over $15 billion.
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