Indian government pilots ethanol use to absorb 20B L surplus
India has a massive ethanol surplus, about 20 billion liters, and the government is getting creative about using it up.
They are piloting ethanol-powered cooking stoves, exploring ethanol-diesel blends for backup generators, and even running some Karnataka busses on ethanol-mixed diesel.
The idea is to ease pressure on distilleries and be ready if regular fuel supplies get disrupted.
India's taxes curb flex fuel uptake
Carmakers like Maruti Suzuki and Toyota have built flex-fuel vehicles that can run on higher ethanol blends, but high taxes (up to 40%) are holding them back compared to electric cars with just 5% GST.
Sikkim has dropped road tax for these cars to help out.
Ethanol blending in regular fuel is already at 20%, with talks of raising it further, while pricing remains under discussion.