Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari Launched Toyota’s first of its kind pilot project on Flexi-Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles (FFV-SHEV) in India on October 11.
Key points
- The vehicle was imported from Brazil.
- FFV-SHEV would run on 100% petrol as well as 20 to 100% blended ethanol and electric power.
- An FFV SHEV has a flex-fuel engine and an electric powertrain, thus providing dual benefit of higher ethanol use and greater fuel efficiency.
- It can run for a significant time period on its EV mode, wherein the engine is shut off.
- Flex-fuel compatible cars can run on more than one type of fuel and also a mixture.
- Typically, a blend of petrol and ethanol or methanol is used.
- FFVs provide an opportunity of greater substitution of petrol by ethanol as it is capable of using any of the higher blends of ethanol mix from 20 per cent up to 100 per cent.
- Ethanol is a clean energy source that can significantly reduce fossil fuel consumption, the energy import bill, and carbon emissions.
- Being agriculture-based, higher use of ethanol as fuel will also increase farmer incomes and open doors for new jobs, helping grow the rural economy.
