Flex fuel for India’s energy independence

 

Graphic based on an article by Vipin Labroo. Visuals generated with AI assistance.

India’s huge dependence on fossil fuel imports more often than not makes it strategically vulnerable to geo strategic headwinds. Add to that the fact that the environmental damage caused by excessive reliance on such a source of energy is visibly manifest in increasing incidence of extreme weather incidents, isn't it time that India found an alternative to fossil fuels real fast so that it can inure itself against having to depend upon an unreliable source of fuel, often used as a tool of strategic blackmail by foreign powers? That such an alternative source of energy would be easier on the environment would be the icing on the cake.

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What are the alternatives available to India in this regard? Promoting the use of electric vehicles is certainly on the cards, but one has to remember that the matching infrastructure has to come up fast. One also has to, however, bear in mind that if the power used to charge EVs does not come from a non-polluting source, we will not really be addressing the environmental issue in the best possible way

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Using flex fuel, which is a mixture of petrol and ethanol in varying proportions, is emerging as a viable and practical way of reducing one’s dependence on unreliable fossil fuel imports. What makes it very viable is the fact that ethanol is a by product of the process that converts sugarcane to sugar. It can also be made from surplus and damaged grain like rice, corn and other kinds of cereals. Given the size of the Indian agricultural sector, this is something that can be seriously looked at as a source of easily available bio fuel or flex fuel.

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Brazil, another major sugarcane producer, has long been held as the model to emulate when it comes to bio fuel or flex fuel adoption. In the aftermath of the oil shock of the 1970s, Brazil decided to start using ethanol in a major way to cut down on its reliance on fossil fuels to power its cars. In fact, cars in Brazil used to run on 100 percent ethanol right till the 2000s, when they  began to use flex fuel, and today it is common to find vehicles fueling up on flex fuel ranging from E27 (27 percent ethanol and 73 percent petrol) right through varying combinations -E30, E50 and E75 to E100. People generally opt for a combination based on the prevailing prices of petrol and ethanol.

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India achieved the E20 (20 percent ethanol and 80 percent petrol) blending target five years ahead of schedule in 2025, marking an important milestone in the nation’s flex fuel journey. Giving a further fillip to this journey towards widespread flex fuel adoption, leading Indo-Japanese car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki have announced the launch of a true blue flex fuel variant of their popular Wagon R model that is capable of running on any ethanol- petrol combination ranging from E20 all the way till E100.

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In anticipation of a growing demand for flex-fuel cars, the state-owned Indian Oil Corporation has already opened an E85 fuel dispensing petrol pump in Delhi, a first among many such pumps that are expected to open in major urban centres. What is interesting is the fact that the price of E85 has been kept 20 percent lower than the price of the E20 fuel sold at regular Indian petrol pumps.

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As more and more car manufacturers come out with flex fuel compatible vehicles and the availability of blended E85 and even E199 fuel becomes more commonplace, we may begin to see the start of a bona fide transition from relying exclusively on hard to come by fossil fuel to fuel we can practically  grow on our land. The sooner that happens, the better it is for us, as we can't wait for another global  oil crisis to hold our economy and people to ransom. The world can have its geostrategic wrangles while we look contentedly at our crops of sugarcane and breathe a sigh of relief!

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