SIAM pushes for enhanced alternative fuels penetration amid focus on electric vehicles

Automobile industry body SIAM has proposed making petrol-powered two-wheelers and passenger vehicles material compatible with 10 per cent ethanol (E10) and 3 per cent methanol (M3) blends by 2025.

In a white paper on 'Alternative Fuels for Vehicles' released recently, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) also said that by 2030, the auto industry could make specific vehicles compatible with 20 per cent ethanol (E20)-blended gasoline depending upon sustained availability of fuels with separately labelled dispensing at fuel stations.

While electrification of fleet will be a major help towards providing energy security and improving environment, SIAM said that "India needs to work on other efforts, to not only complement this effort, considering the ultimate objective of improving India's energy security".

 

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, it added.

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

For three-wheelers, CNG penetration can be increased and by 2030, the gasoline-powered vehicles could be made specifically to be compatible with E20 and diesel vehicles with B7 (7 per cent biodiesel), depending upon the sustained availability of fuels, it added.

In case of diesel-driven passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles (LCVs) and heavy commercial vehicles (HCVs), industry could make vehicles compatible with B7 bio-diesel blends by 2020, SIAM said in the white paper.

Spelling out targets, SIAM said, "For gasoline-powered two-wheelers and passenger vehicles, industry will endeavour to make vehicles material compatible with 10 per cent ethanol (E10) and 3 per cent methanol (M3) blends by 2025."

Further, it said, "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."

For both two-wheelers and four-wheelers, SIAM said that during the first phase by 2020, E10 material-complaint vehicles would be continued to be made available across India.

By 2025, in the second phase, all new vehicles will be E10 material-compliant and will also be tuned for fuel efficiency, it added.

In addition, vehicles will be made material-compliant to gasoline fuel with 3 per cent methanol (M3).

For four-wheelers, SIAM said if CNG infrastructure is further doubled from the 2020 level of 3,000 stations, penetration of CNG vehicles is likely to increase to more than 5.2 million vehicles, it said.

During the third phase by 2030, based on fuel availability and infrastructure, SIAM proposed two- and four-wheelers specifically compliant to E20 to be produced, which will also be compatible for M3 across India.

Further, if the CNG dispensing is augmented to 10,000 CNG stations especially in urban areas, CNG vehicle population of four-wheelers may increase to around 13 million, it added.

SIAM further said that in phase 4, beyond 2030 and up to 2047, besides electric and hybrid cars, E20-specific vehicles and CNG vehicles would continue to support the overall objective of the government to reduce the dependency on crude.

For two-wheelers, in phase 4, share of electric two-wheelers is expected to grow significantly especially in urban areas by this time, SIAM said.

"Hybridisation of two-wheelers may be considered by two-wheeler manufacturers and specific two-wheeled vehicles could be developed to use E20 fuel, along with compliance to M3," it said.