FLEXI
FUEL VEHICLES - ENVIRONMENT
News: World’s first prototype of the BS 6 Stage II
‘Electrified Flex fuel vehicle’ launched
What's
in the news?
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Recently, Toyota unveiled a prototype of
the Innova Hycross with a flex-fuel hybrid powertrain, its first car in India
with this option.
Key
details:
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Toyota claims that it is the world’s first
BS6 Stage II-compliant flex-fuel vehicle.
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Toyota had displayed an imported Corolla
flex-fuel hybrid sedan as a pilot project late last year.
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The pilot was initiated as part of a
government-led push to commercially deploy this technology, which is already in
use in markets such as Brazil, Canada, and the United States.
What
is flex fuel technology?
●
A flex-fuel or flexible fuel vehicle
typically has an internal combustion engine (ICE), but unlike a regular petrol
vehicle, it can run on more than one type of fuel, or a mixture of these fuels.
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The most common versions use a blend of
petrol and ethanol or methanol.
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Flex-fuel vehicles such as the prototype
Hycross can run on blends of ethanol that are far higher than the current
standard 20% mix (E20).
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This is made possible by equipping the
engine with a fuel mix sensor and an engine control module (ECM) programming
that sense and automatically adjusts for any ratio of designated fuels.
Advantages:
1.
Low greenhouse gas emissions:
●
The use of ethanol blending sharply lowers
harmful pollutants such as carbon monoxide, sulfur and carbon and nitrogen
oxides.
2. Reduced oil imports:
●
Blending will also help cut oil imports to
fuel vehicles.
3. Improved performance:
●
While fuel economy is generally lower with
increased levels of ethanol (engines are optimized for petrol), many flex fuel
vehicles have improved acceleration performance when operating on higher
ethanol blends.
4. Consumer centric economy:
●
With a much lower cost of running, they
also offer a better economy for consumers.
Disadvantages:
1.
Reduced efficiency:
●
Flex-fuel cars typically take a 4-8% hit on
fuel efficiency when using ethanol for motive power.
2. Water intensive crops:
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Another problem with ethanol blending is that
source crops such as sugarcane are usually very water-intensive.
●
According to a NITI Aayog report, in
2019-20, more than 90% of the ethanol produced in the country came from
sugarcane.
3. Infrastructure development:
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For mass adoption, adequate supply of
different types of ethanol blends is needed across the country.
●
This would have to be in addition to the
existing network as current vehicles on the road would have to be supplied with
fuel that has only 10% ethanol blending.
4. Dependence on single crop/source:
●
According to an NITI Aayog report,
sugarcane accounted for more than 90% of total ethanol produced in the country
in 2019-20.
Government
measures:
1.
National biofuel policy:
●
The government announced its 2025 target
of 20 percent blending of ethanol in petrol envisaged in its National Biofuel
Policy 2018.
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Promotion of Second-Generation Biofuels:
The policy encourages the production and use of second-generation biofuels that
are derived from non-food feedstocks. This approach helps prevent competition
between food and fuel crops.
2. Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN Yojana:
●
It was launched as a tool to create 2G
Ethanol capacity in the country and attract investments in this new sector.
3. Repurpose Used Cooking Oil:
●
The government launched this ‘Repurpose
Used Cooking Oil (RUCO)’ sticker and a phone app to enable the collection of
used cooking oil.
●
Restaurants and hotels interested in
supplying used cooking oil can affix the sticker to show availability.
WAY
FORWARD:
1.
Infrastructure development:
●
Government should improve the
infrastructure for flex fuel vehicles.
2. Diversification of ethanol source:
●
Sources of the ethanol production should
be diversified from current sugarcane.
3. PLI scheme to ethanol production:
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Production linked incentive schemes can be
given to this ethanol production programme.
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Manufacturers will increase their
production by these incentives.