The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has called the representatives from the auto industry to discuss the usage and promote use of alternative fuels in the country.

Sources close to the development told BusinessLine that officials from Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) will represent the auto industry in the meeting, apart from officials and representatives from manufacturers like Honda Cars India, Hyundai Motor India, and others. “The agenda of the meeting is ‘Auto industry on roadmap for alternative fuels like ethanol and CNG’. The meeting will be held late afternoon,” a source said, adding that it will be a virtual meeting.

In the recent past, both the government and the industry have been meeting on various topics so that one of the largest contributors (auto sector) to the GDP to function smoothly during this pandemic.

Earlier this week, the auto industry had a meeting with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways also to discuss the scrappage policy which is pending for a long time and agreed on the proposal by the Centre of one per cent discount on buying new vehicles if an old vehicle junked in return.

Other fuels

Similarly, on the alternative fuels, the industry has been advocating a lot of options to the government, especially compressed natural gas (CNG) in particular for mass usage in the country. The government is also promoting use of biofuel, hydrogen fuel cells, electric vehicles as alternative fuels in automobiles.

Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, has also in many public forums asked the auto industry to come up with new alternative options to be used in vehicles instead of fossil fuels, not only to conserve them but also to save the environment.

SIAM has also shared visions and recommendations on alternative fuels in the country. For instance, in a White Paper shared last year, it said that the diversification of fuel will also involve developing compatible vehicles, and introduction of new technologies. While there are various environmental concerns with the usage of some of the biofuels, there will be a need to overcome these challenges.

It said with a requisite policy push and infrastructure development, to be done as an enabler of fuel diversification effort by the government, the automotive industry aims to achieve substantial penetrations of alternative fuel vehicles.

“For gasoline powered two-wheelers and passenger vehicles, industry will endeavour to make vehicle material compatible with 10 per cent ethanol (E10) and 3 per cent methanol (M3) blends by 2025,” it said in the report.

Ethanol blends

And, by 2030 industry could make specific vehicles compatible with 20 per cent ethanol (E20) blended gasoline depending upon sustained availability of the fuels with separately labelled dispensing at fuel stations, it said.

Besides ethanol blends, four-wheeler industry would benefit from the increased reach of CNG infrastructure and CNG stations, driving sales of CNG vehicles to save CO2, as well as reduce import bills, it added.

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