In a move to make India more fuel-conscious country, the government is assessing various alternatives to CNG. Ethanol biofuel is being considered as one of the alternative and has been granted green signal by the government.
But shifting to ethanol backed cars has been receiving criticism from many automobile makers. Below mentioned are the reasons why car manufacturers along with common man are hesitant in shifting to ethanol.
1.Modification of engines– Engines need to be modified for making them compatible enough for the fuel. In addition to this, engine tuning or spark timing should also be evaluated to avoid any harm. More changes are expected to be informed by the government in the coming time.
2.Less fuel efficiency– According to the reports, if a car has zero percent blend and is combined with 10% ethanol, the car projects a 6-7% drop in fuel efficiency. Moreover, if it’s blended with 20% ethanol then the rate drops to 1-2%.
3.Higher purchase cost– Owing to the new changes in the structing of the car and engines, a rise in manufacturing cost is contemplated. An increase of Rs3,000-Rs5,000 is calculated for time being. Once the equipment and technological requirements are specified, a more clear figure will be presented.
4.Difficulty in changes to existing cars– Changing the current petrol/diesel/ CNG cars with ethanol cars is not a piece of cake. A lot of man power and fast operating service centers have to be opened. Along with managing their functioning.
5 Hesitant nature of Indians– Indians are quite skeptical for any major change along with high switching cost. Though the government has decided to use ethanol on Indian roads but the success or failure of this decision relies in hands of our public.
Though shifting to Ethanol seems quite a task but one cannot simply overlook the good side of this fuel. Ethanol is an environment-friendly fuel hence, low emissions are expected from it. Upon taking test rides, no major change in the driving, shifting gears or performance difference was noted.