Decks have been cleared for vehicle manufacturers to design automobiles running on biofuels in the country. With the Government notifying the mass emission standards and technical specifications for vehicles using flexible fuels — bio-ethanol E85 and ED95 — the Centre on Tuesday took a definite step forward in its aim to shift to the use of the environment-friendly fuel.
E85, a mixture of 85 per cent ethanol (by-product of sugar) and 15 per cent fuel, is generally the highest ethanol fuel mixture found in the United States and several European countries, particularly in Sweden. ED95 designates a blend of 95 per cent ethanol and five per cent ignition improver; it is used in modified diesel engines where high compression is used to ignite the fuel, as opposed to the operation of gasoline engines, where spark plugs are used.
At present, it is compulsory to blend five per cent ethanol with petroleum but the Indian oil marketing companies have achieved only 1.37 per cent. Thus, the Government now has its eyes on introducing E-85 and ED-95 engines in Indian cars. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways listed the test requirements for Type Approval (Certificate of Conformity given to a product that meets a minimum set of regulatory, technical and safety requirements) and extension for two, three and four-wheeled vehicles.
“The Ministry has also notified the technical specifications of reference fuel E85 and ED95 used for testing of such vehicles,” said an official from MoRTH. “This notification is very essential as it will now enable vehicle manufacturers to manufacture vehicles running on bio-ethanol E85 and ED95. A bio-ethanol fuel bus is already under trial in Nagpur,” he said.
The Ministry is also amending the rules under Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 to facilitate the use of greener alternate fuels in vehicles. The Ministry has already notified Draft Rules for mass emission norms and testing standards of vehicles running on bio-CNG which are under finalisation. The standards of small series testing of vehicles running on electric power have already been notified by the Ministry.
The Government is preparing a complete framework to enable the use of alternative fuels in vehicles in India. “This will not just bring down pollution levels to a great deal, but will also help limit our dependency on petrol and diesel, which are only getting expensive,” said the official.