Ukraine Crisis: Nitin Gadkari Seeks Reduction In Fossil Fuel Consumption

Citing the spurt in crude prices due to the war in Ukraine as a wake-up call, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has urged chief executive officers of major vehicle manufacturers and representatives of automobile lobby group SIAM to expedite the roll-out of vehicles of flex-fuel variants.

According to the ministry, Gadkari has maintained that it was time India opted for alternate fuel and reduced dependence on imported petrol and diesel to meet energy requirements.

The road transport sector is the biggest consumer of petrol and diesel.

Gandkari said the war and spiralling prices of crude oil in the international market has forced us to look inward and find our own solution. The flex-fuel vehicles can play a key role in years to come.

The minister has also asked the manufacturers to make a detailed presentation on the issues coming in the way of manufacturing engines that can run both on 100 per cent petrol and petrol blended with 20-85 per cent of ethanol (E20 to E85) in May.

Meanwhile, in the past two weeks, the government has held two high-level inter-ministerial meetings including one chaired by the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary P K Mishra on the ethanol blending programme.

Sources said Mishra has directed all the agencies concerned to ensure that by April 2025, the minimum 20 per cent ethanol blending is effected across the country. The agencies can ensure higher blending percentage in states such as Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

As per the government’s stipulation, vehicle manufacturers will be asked to ensure that E20-material-compliant and E10-engine-tuned vehicles are rolled out all across the country from April 2023. Similarly, they will be directed to ensure that vehicles with E20-tuned engines are rolled out from April 2025.

Meanwhile, the current average ethanol blending in India is around 8.3 per cent. While in some states the blending is around 10 per cent or little more, in states such as West Bengal and Assam it’s less than 4 per cent.