Old vehicles to need tuning for gasohol use

Owners of old vehicles, especially two-wheelers, using carburettors will have to fork out anything between Rs 2,000 and Rs 10,000 to modify their vehicles for using petrol blended with 10 per cent ethanol that the government has decided to introduce from November 2007.

The money will mainly go into changes and adjustments in rubber hoses and pipelines of the fuel system of vehicles.

At present, there are over 50 lakh two-wheelers (half of the total number on road) which use carburettor fuel systems. There are also over 5 lakh such cars, including models like Maruti Gypsy, Omni, Maruti 800, and Ambassador.

The initial phase of ethanol blending (5 per cent content), which starts in November 2006, will not require any investment as carburettor-run vehicles can operate smoothly on such fuel.

According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) Executive Director K K Gandhi, "For the auto-industry, the real issue is next year's introduction of the 10 per cent blend. There could be some issues with the rubber components of aged vehicles, which could cause operational problems. Real tests with the higher blend are yet to be conducted, and altered fuel injection jets could be needed for such fuel."

Despite repeated attempts, Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda, Suzuki Motorcycles, and Hindustan Motors refused to comment on the possible technology changes needed for using the stronger blend of ethanol.

Senior officials of Maruti and General Motors said the present technology used by their vehicles could easily take the five-per-cent ethanol blend, but refused to talk on higher strengths of ethanol and the changes needed in carburettor-run vehicles.

Tests carried out by SIAM in association with Indian Oil Corporation have revealed that all new passengers cars of Maruti, Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, Tata Motor, Ford, and General Motors and two-wheelers are compatible with a five-per-cent ethanol blend. But, no tests for a higher strength of ethanol in petrol have been carried out so far.