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| Photo by Raman deep: https://www.pexels.com/photo/silhouette-of-person-1102257/ |
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| Photo by Raman deep: https://www.pexels.com/photo/silhouette-of-person-1102257/ |
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fiat_1100.jpg
For millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, India of the very recent past may as well have been the proverbial land of snake charmers. With so many flashy car brands offering a host of cutting edge features buzzing up and down India’s many roads and highways across its many cities, towns and increasingly villages, they would conjure up images of a medieval dystopia about what was after all a very modern 20th century India with myriad outstanding achievements to its credit.
It is true that before the launch of the Indo- Japanese Maruti-Suzuki 800 in the early 1980’s most Indian cars and motor vehicles were outdated, sluggish and inefficient when compared with what was driven in other countries around the world, including our neighbouring ones. The liberalization of the Indian motor vehicle sector continued into the 1990s, dazzling the people of the country with the world’s leading automobile brands. Apart from Suzuki, the likes of Honda, Kawasaki, Mazda, Opel, Ford, Chevrolet, Nissan, Isuzu, Daewoo and many other renowned motor vehicle legends graced the Indian roads ushering in the modern Indian automobile revolution. Today the Indian automobile market has some outstanding international and homegrown car brands to cater to the needs of the country's huge middle class and its increasingly large number of millionaires and billionaires. The roads of cities and towns throughout the length and breadth of India see all manner of cars these days- from the humble hatch backs to luxury vehicles from the stables of Mercedes, BMW, Audi, and Jaguar, not to speak of sporty SUVs where the bigger the better is the mantra.
But that does not mean that the pre-liberalisation generation of India did not have its own love affair with motor vehicles of which the country in fact boasted a rich tradition and history harking back to the earliest days of the twentieth century. The maharajas and the British high officials of the day were the first ones to use automobiles in India. By the time the country gained independence, the well heeled among the local populace too started owning cars.
This was the era of premium luxury automobiles which reflected the class and status of their owners. Brands like Rolls Royce, Plymouth, Bentely, Chevrolet,and Buick were owned and flaunted by royalty and wealthy business people like the Parsees. Other well to do people had their Morris Minors the precursor to the grand old Ambassador car the emblem of pre liberalisation India of languid pace.
Some enterprising Indians would dazzle their compatriots by buying contemporary foreign brands of cars at auctions conducted by the State Trading Corporation and driving around the streets of large cities like Mumbai and Delhi. Imagine the looks of envy when someone would drive by in their massive Chevrolet Caprice among a sea of dreary Ambassadors and Fiats!
The children who grew up in the 1970s to 1980s, however, carry vivid memories of the era of stately and graceful, if lumbering vehicles that took them to their destination albeit not at today's frenetic speed to this day. It was the era of the great Indian triumvirate of Ambassador, Fiat and Standard cars which remained pretty much the same vehicle barring a few minor and cosmetic upgrades from time to time for decade upon decade. Other much loved vehicles from that era were the Matador Van and the Jonga jeeps and the Shaktiman trucks, which were used largely by the army. All the buses and trucks were from Tata and Ashok Leyland, save a few by Hindustan Motors and some by Dodge, which one saw occasionally.
Among the two wheelers, it was the Bajaj Chetak scooter that ruled the roost, alongside the stately Lambretta. The most coveted of the bikes was the Enfield Bullet 350, with its iconic thumping sound which the armed forces and the police forces of the country bought in large numbers. The Yezdi and Jawa bikes were also very popular among the young for their stylish appeal. The Rajdoot Mini, which Rishi Kapoor popularised in his debut film Bobby, was also quite popular with the young and trendy. Rajdoot also mass produced other bigger bikes for the masses, including milk-men who would attach large cans of milk to either side of a bike and go on their daily deliveries.
Three wheelers from Bajaj and Lamberetta became the poor man's taxi, with the larger Tempo three wheeler with its distinctive growl being used to ferry goods across short distances.
These vehicles coexisted with bullock carts, cycle rickshaws and interesting hybrid vehicles like old American second world war leftover Hardly Davidsons being repurposed in Old Delhi as the iconic Phut Phut rickshaws capable of carrying six to eight passengers.
Automobiles had character in those times and people loved their cars and bikes dearly, almost like a family member, as they often were with them for years, sometimes even decades. It was a very different time, when cars didn't have air conditioning, but small electrically operated fans to circulate a weak breeze amongst the passengers. Other cars would show up with straw mats on the roofs of their cars on which their owners would spray water on hot summer days, to create some manner of primitive air conditioning.
Those were indeed very different times, but splendid times, nevertheless. Like the old Dylan song goes- ‘the times, they are a changin.” It's a pity they are.
When I was in school, I learned
about how Brazil transitioned to largely using ethanol-blended fuel for its
automobiles, as it could source it from sugarcane, which grows in abundance in
Brazil. Given that India has always relied excessively on imported petroleum
products to power its automobiles, I had wondered then why India, which, along
with Brazil, is among the top two sugarcane-growing nations in the world,
shouldn’t follow suit? Doing so would not only have shaved off billions
from India’s import bill, but it would also have made it less susceptible to
geo-strategic blackmail like the one it finds itself subject to on account of
the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
While India is trying to pivot away from its reliance on imported oil by stepping up domestic oil exploration and encouraging the widespread adoption of EV technology, it is in leveraging its natural advantage of being home to one of the largest agriculture-based economies in the world and making a move to biofuels like ethanol that it may find true energy security. While oil is messy, polluting, expensive, and causes global warming, the EV industry is heavily reliant on Chinese imports, making it a potential security nightmare. Besides, EVs or electric vehicles are non-polluting only if the electricity used to charge them is produced in a non-polluting way. With most of India’s power plants being coal-powered, going for large-scale adoption of EVs might not help fight the raging pollution levels across the Indian urban landscape. The advantages of using ethanol are many. These include, among other things, better engine performance, higher fuel efficiency, and the kicker being ensuring the energy security of the nation.
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| Photo by Atlantic Ambience |
India’s ethanol journey
The Path Ahead
One of the biggest hurdles in the
adoption of ethanol-blended fuel in India is the large number of old vehicles
that may not be entirely suited to running efficiently on it. The newer
vehicles have no such issues. As a matter of fact, automobile manufacturers in
the country should look at making flexible fuel vehicles like they have for
years in Brazil, capable of running on variable proportions of a petrol-ethanol
blend. Brazil even has vehicles that run on pure ethanol, comprising 95%
ethanol and 5% water.
It is heartening that major Indian automobile companies have stepped up to the plate with their plans to foray into the exciting world of flexible fuel vehicles. With the government planning to extend the same incentives that it extended to EV manufacturers to flexi-fuel vehicle manufacturers soon, the future for rapid adoption of such automobiles seems to be quite bright. In the meantime, it is important that the required fuel dispensing infrastructure be developed and people be made aware of the benefits of using flexible fuel vehicles, also known as FFVs.
Making a move to an ethanol-blended fuel dispensation does have its critics, who argue that the fuel is not compatible with a large number of old vehicles used in the country. Then there is the whole argument about the diversion of food crops like rice and maize towards ethanol production, which might impact the hard-fought-for food security of the nation. Other possible problems could be in the shape of using sugarcane and other water-intensive crops in the manufacturing of ethanol.
However, given the vastness of India and the natural resources it possesses, these are not deal breakers, and solutions can be worked out that adequately address these concerns. India’s tryst with ethanol has been a fruitful one, and continuing down this path will help the nation secure its energy needs for all times to come.
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| Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/stacked-of-stones-outdoors-289586/ |