Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
– Photo : ANI (File photo)
hear the news
Expansion
Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Wednesday that the country’s automobile industry will have to provide flexi fuel i.e. ethanol blended petrol vehicles at different prices. This will help accelerate the rate of adoption of blended fuel technology. Speaking at the Society of India Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) event, he said the government would extend full support to the industry on issues related to supply, policy and demand for the sale of flexi fuel.
The government is following the policy of promoting flexi fuel vehicles. E10 class flexi fuel mixes 10 per cent with petrol and 20 per cent ethanol in E20 class. Puri said that I believe that we need to provide flexi fuel vehicles at different price levels. This also includes two wheelers and three wheelers. Also, we have to provide this option soon.
Production target will be completed five years in advance
The Petroleum Minister said, the government is ready to introduce E20 fuel. We are confident that the target of producing 1,000 crore liters of E20 fuel will be achieved before five years. We will be ready for a pilot project of providing E20 fuel at select petrol pumps by April 2023.
- By 2025, India will be able to save about Rs 30,000 crore of foreign exchange every year with E20 fuel.
Petrol pumps selling biofuels doubled
Puri said the number of petrol pumps selling biofuels has increased by more than 2.26 times in the last five years. In 2016-17, there were 29,897 such petrol pumps across the country, whose number increased to 67,641 in 2021-22.
- The demand for ethanol is expected to increase to 10.16 billion liters by 2025.