Car companies will be ordered to install compulsory flex fuel engines

Gadkari will issue the order after three to four months

Flex engines can also use a mixture of petrol and ethanol or methanol

Pune: An order will be issued in the next three to four months to make the use of flex fuel engines mandatory in cars, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said in a statement.

Gadkari had been appealing to car companies for the last two years to make flex engines but it was not made mandatory. Now for the first time such an engine will soon be ordered to be made mandatory.

The Flex engine is an engine that can also use a mixture of petrol and ethanol or methanol. At present, blending of up to 20% ethanol in petrol is allowed in India.

However no modifications have been made to the engine. Now if the amount of ethanol is increased then the engine also has to make the necessary modifications. Nitin Gadkari is asking car companies to change the engine. Amid rising petrol and diesel prices, the government is focusing on alternative fuels.

Not long ago, Gadkari said that there would be many benefits from such an engine. First of all, pollution will decrease. The second biggest benefit would be a reduction in crude oil imports. India imports more than 80 per cent of its crude oil. These imports are more expensive as crude oil has to be bought in dollars. The government wants to reduce crude imports and the costs involved.