Toyota Kirloskar Motor Participates at the Ethanol Pavilion at recently Held Auto Expo 2023

Source: Toyota Kirloskar Motor

“Given the Indian context, we foresee a huge potential for ethanol as it is an Indigenous and clean energy source that can significantly reduce fossil fuel consumption.” - Vikram Gulati, Country Head and Executive Vice President Toyota Kirloskar Motor

January 2023: Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) participated at “Ethanol Pavilion” in the recently held Auto Expo 2023, emphasising the significance of multiple energy pathway approach towards achieving carbon neutrality. The Pavilion organised by The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) aimed to promote awareness and accelerate the adoption of ethanol as an alternative fuel thereby helping the sector lower its dependence on fossil fuels.

The pavilion was inaugurated by Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs and Krishan Pal Gurjar, Minister of State of Power and Heavy Industries – Government of India.

As champions of sustainability, globally, Toyota is committed to Carbon Neutrality by 2050 and aims to achieve Net Zero Carbon in Manufacturing Operations by 2035. Toyota is advancing greener mobility solutions with greater agility by introducing and supporting multiple clean technologies considering various factors such as India’s energy mix, its unique consumer profile and needs, infrastructure readiness, and the Government’s diversified efforts towards becoming ‘Atmanirbhar’ in energy by 2047.

Sharing his expert views, Vikram Gulati, Country Head and Executive Vice President Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said, “Toyota will continue its relentless efforts and contribute to future innovations by sharing sustainable technological advancements in the green mobility space. Toyota believes that ‘carbon is the enemy’, and hence continues to offer wider choices to customers with various vehicle powertrain technologies, including Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles (SHEV), Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV), Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV), Fuel-cell Electric vehicles (FCEV), Flex-fuel as well as Flex Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicle (FFV-SHEV), and other bio-fuel vehicles. Given the Indian context, we foresee a huge potential for ethanol as it is an Indigenous and clean energy source that can significantly reduce fossil fuel consumption.”

As one of the most appropriate options, ethanol holds tremendous potential for India as it is an Indigenous and renewable - clean energy source that can significantly reduce fossil fuel consumption, the energy import bill and carbon emissions. Being agriculture based, higher use of ethanol as fuel will also increase farmer incomes and create new jobs, thereby boosting the agrarian economy besides increasing revenue for the Government. The Government also recently launched second-generation technologies for producing ethanol from agricultural residues like Agriculture waste (parali), which is currently, otherwise, burnt.

India has already achieved 10 percent ethanol blending five months ahead of schedule. The implementation of 20 percent ethanol blending in petrol by 2025-26 is expected to substitute 86 million barrels of Gasoline, thereby leading to forex savings of Rs. 30,000 crore for India, as well as reducing 10 million tons of carbon emissions. Given the huge potential of ethanol production that exists up to and beyond E20, these benefits can increase multi-fold with the introduction of Flexi-Fuel Vehicle (FFV) technology that can flexibly use higher ethanol blends from 20 percent to 85 percent.

In India, Toyota recently launched the pilot project on Flexi-Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicle (FFV-SHEV) Technology and signed an MOU with the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. The initiative marked Toyota’s efforts to promote and create awareness on Ethanol as an important indigenous, carbon neutral energy pathway, along with the advanced Flexi-Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicle technology that can help India achieve true self-reliance and contribute towards the national target of Carbon Net-Zero by 2070. The collected data will be shared with the prestigious Indian Institute of Science, for conducting a deeper study about the well-to-wheel carbon emissions of FFV / FFV-SHEV in the Indian context.

MORE FROM THE SECTION