<p>The Central government and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) are planning to introduce vehicles that run on ethanol on the City’s roads. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Engines that run on ethanol will be imported and introduced on a trial basis. Manufacturers will be urged to produce vehicles with engines that run on ethanol. <br /><br />In the wake of escalating fuel costs and depleting resources, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport, Shipping and Highways, had some time back proposed to introduce E-85 engines for vehicles that run on 85 pc ethanol and 15 pc on petrol/diesel. But now, there is talk about engines that run on 100 pc ethanol.<br /><br />Sources said some such engines will soon be imported from Brazil. Then, the government will ask vehicle manufacturers to produce similar engines in India. They will be given a timeframe for this.Vehicles that run on such engines would be first introduced in metropolitan cities on a trial basis and gradually made mandatory, the sources said.<br /><br />There is success in running ethanol-based vehicles in the private sector too. <br /><br />Sampanna Muthalik, General Manager of Indian Cane Power Limited, Davangere, has been running 12 cars on ethanol on an experimental basis for the last two years. <br /><br />“There is no need to modify the vehicle. All that one needs is a conversion kit, like <br />the ones in some vehicles for conversion from petrol to LPG, having a knob. Performance and mileage are no problem.”<br /><br />Experts point out that the effort can be successful in Karnataka as it is self-sufficient in ethanol. Diwakar Rao, head (biofuel) of the Vision Group on Biotechnology, says ethanol has 70 pc more calorific value than petrol and can be produced at a lower cost.<br /><br />Vaman Acharya, chairman of the KSPCB, said ethanol is a cleaner fuel with zero wastage. That is the need of the hour in cities like Bangalore, where vehicular pollution is a major problem, he added.<br /></p>
<p>The Central government and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) are planning to introduce vehicles that run on ethanol on the City’s roads. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Engines that run on ethanol will be imported and introduced on a trial basis. Manufacturers will be urged to produce vehicles with engines that run on ethanol. <br /><br />In the wake of escalating fuel costs and depleting resources, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport, Shipping and Highways, had some time back proposed to introduce E-85 engines for vehicles that run on 85 pc ethanol and 15 pc on petrol/diesel. But now, there is talk about engines that run on 100 pc ethanol.<br /><br />Sources said some such engines will soon be imported from Brazil. Then, the government will ask vehicle manufacturers to produce similar engines in India. They will be given a timeframe for this.Vehicles that run on such engines would be first introduced in metropolitan cities on a trial basis and gradually made mandatory, the sources said.<br /><br />There is success in running ethanol-based vehicles in the private sector too. <br /><br />Sampanna Muthalik, General Manager of Indian Cane Power Limited, Davangere, has been running 12 cars on ethanol on an experimental basis for the last two years. <br /><br />“There is no need to modify the vehicle. All that one needs is a conversion kit, like <br />the ones in some vehicles for conversion from petrol to LPG, having a knob. Performance and mileage are no problem.”<br /><br />Experts point out that the effort can be successful in Karnataka as it is self-sufficient in ethanol. Diwakar Rao, head (biofuel) of the Vision Group on Biotechnology, says ethanol has 70 pc more calorific value than petrol and can be produced at a lower cost.<br /><br />Vaman Acharya, chairman of the KSPCB, said ethanol is a cleaner fuel with zero wastage. That is the need of the hour in cities like Bangalore, where vehicular pollution is a major problem, he added.<br /></p>