Among the many eco-friendly mobility products that Suzuki Motor Corporation plans to display at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show (October 26-November 5, 2023) is a Wagon R hatchback that runs on biomethane gas. The car was earlier showcased at the G7 Summit in Hiroshima in May. Going by the picture, it is the made-in-India Wagon R and not the one sold in Japan.
Compressed biomethane gas (CBG) is part of the Indian government’s push to develop cleaner and more sustainable fuels. Suzuki Motor Corp states that it “has been working on the CBG project since 2022, believing that it can contribute to the development of India by combining rural revitalization, the realization of a sustainable recycling-oriented society, and providing mobility.”
MARUTI WAGON R CBG
The made-in-India Wagon R was developed at Maruti Suzuki’s R&D centre in India. The company has been working on the Wagon R CBG since 2022, and at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo later this month, it will showcase this vehicle along with other details about its CBG initiatives in India.
In December 2022, Maruti Suzuki unveiled a flex-fuel Wagon R prototype that can run on an ethanol-petrol blend between 20 percent (E20) and 85 percent (E85). A few months ago, the company’s chairman RC Bhargava said that instead of solely relying on EVs, the use of hybrid technologies, CBG and CNG will help to reduce the carbon footprint in the country.
WHAT IS COMPRESSED BIOMETHANE GAS?
Like CNG (compressed natural gas), CBG can be used to power vehicles and engines. However, unlike CNG, which is derived from petroleum sources, CBG is obtained from the decomposition of organic matter like agricultural waste, cow dung, sewage and even municipal waste. Following the decomposition process, the biogas has to go through a refinement process to lower the amount of carbon dioxide which will increase the amount of methane in the fuel and get it closer to the composition of CNG.
Since CBG is obtained from organic sources, the by-products of the decomposition can be utilised for agricultural purposes. In 2020, the then Minister of Oil, Dharmendra Pradhan, said that the country planned to invest $24 billion (around Rs 200 crore) to produce 1.5 crore tonnes of compressed biogas from 5,000 plants by 2023. The move would also allow India to cut costs as the country currently imports a large percentage of CNG to meet India’s domestic demand.