Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari has launched Toyota Corolla Altis Hybrid, first-of-its-kind pilot project on Flexi-Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles (FFV-SHEV) in India. The pilot project aims to check viability of hybrid vehicles in India, that can on ethanol-powered flex fuel vehicles, to reduce pollution, as well as enable used of ethanol in electric-hybrid vehicles to reduce dependency on petrol and diesel. A flex fuel vehicle is a two-wheeler or four-wheeler that is powered by an engine that can run either on petrol or ethanol or a mixture of both. Ethanol is more cleaner alternative of petrol globally and mixing ethanol with petrol reduces the fuel prices and also reduces pollution. 


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Speaking on the occasion, Union Road Transport minister Nitin Gadkari said pollution is a big concern in India and the transport sector is contributing to pollution. "Therefore, there is a need to encourage use of electric vehicles and vehicles that run on biofuels like ethanol and methanol," he added.



Ethanol is a major alternate fuel used globally and Brazil has the highest average blending of 48 per cent. Union environment minister Bhupendra Yadav said the next 40 days will be the most difficult time for Delhi because of stubble burnings in neighbouring states. "We can manage 24 lakh tonnes of stubble this year by mechanisation," Yadav added.


The government of India is promoting use of flex fuel vehicles and has started production of flex fuel in India, designated as E95, E90, E85 depending on the percentage of petrol as against the percentage of ethanol mix. 


As for the Toyota Corolla Altis Flexi-Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles (FFV-SHEV), it is powered by a 1.8-litre ethanol ready petrol-hybrid engine. 


Nitin Gadkari earlier launched another pilot project by Toyota, the form of India's first Hydrogen powered vehicle - the Toyota Mirai.