Today marks the day when India finally got its first-ever Ethanol-ready flex fuel hybrid car dubbed the Toyota Corolla Altis Hybrid. Inaugurated by Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari. The car can run on petrol, ethanol, or a blend of it.
India Welcomes First-ever Flex-Fuel Hybrid Car
Toyota has launched India’s first-ever Flex Fuel Hybrid car which can run on petrol, ethanol, or a blend of both which is way cheaper than simply petrol. Flex fuel or flexible fuel car offers the flexibility to run on petrol (which is expensive nowadays), ethanol (way cheaper than petrol), or a blend of both. In fact, it could be as much as an 83% blend of both fuels offering the user the ability to choose from several fuel sources.
Apparently, it can draw power from the battery as well, making less carbon emission than simply a combustion-based petrol or diesel engine. Moreover, prices for both petrol and diesel are record high which means buying ethanol is much cheaper and thus, carmakers like Toyota can bank on it while the buyers can enjoy lower fuel bills at the end of the day making it a win-win situation for not.
Dubbed as flex-fuel (or say ethanol), the Government of India has started producing it on a large scale. It is currently marked with E85, E90, and E95 based on a petrol-ethanol blend. It is also an attempt to minimize India’s dependency on petrol and diesel as ethanol can offer a cost-effective and all-around indigenous solution given the fact that India itself is producing ethanol.
Talking about Toyota Corolla Altis Hybrid is a pilot project based on Flexi-Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles (FFV-SHEV) technology. It uses a 1.8L ready petrol-hybrid engine launched in the country. India is aiming towards becoming one of the top global players in every segment of vehicles over 25 years.
Toyota Corolla Altis Hybrid is India’s first Flexi-fuel hybrid car, however, countries like Brazil already have 85% of cars reportedly running on Flexi-fuel
