Gadkari Pitches 100% Ethanol Cars, Cites ₹25-a-Litre Running Cost
Nitin Gadkari has renewed his push for ethanol-powered vehicles, saying a Toyota Innova running on 100% ethanol will be launched in October.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has renewed his push for vehicles that run entirely on ethanol, arguing that their running costs could rival those of a petrol car when fuel is priced at roughly ₹25 a litre.
Speaking at an event in Madhya Pradesh, where he launched a new public bus service alongside Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, Gadkari said he had been invited to the October launch of a Toyota Innova capable of running on 100 per cent ethanol. The vehicle uses Toyota's electrified flex-fuel technology, which pairs an ethanol-compatible internal combustion engine with a strong-hybrid electric powertrain.
"Ethanol is being used in 19 countries in the world, and today, no complaint is coming from any vehicle in India," Gadkari said, adding that the Toyota launch was scheduled for October.
The economics behind the minister's ₹25-a-litre comparison rest on combining ethanol with hybrid technology. Ethanol can be produced domestically from feedstocks such as sugarcane and maize, while a hybrid system cuts fuel use by running partly on electric power. Toyota has previously said its strong-hybrid setup can keep the petrol engine switched off for about 60 per cent of the time and cover around 40 per cent of the distance in electric mode under specific test conditions.
The automaker has not separately announced an October commercial launch on its India website, though it has been working on the technology for years.
Gadkari framed ethanol adoption as a way to lift farm incomes and cut India's petroleum import bill. He said maize prices had risen from about ₹1,200 per quintal to ₹2,600 per quintal after ethanol production began, describing the shift as a mark of self-reliance. "Today, the farmer is not only our 'anna data' but also our 'urja data'," he said.
India imports petroleum worth around ₹22 lakh crore, the minister said, stressing the need to reduce dependence on imported fuel through ethanol, electricity, hydrogen and other alternative energy sources. He added that flex-fuel engines capable of running on 100 per cent ethanol were being developed and that vehicles using the technology would be introduced.