“India cannot afford to have a dogmatic approach when it comes to fuel options,” reiterated Sergio Pancini de Sa, President and CEO, Mahle Brazil. He was speaking to ETAuto on the sidelines of a roundtable held at the company’s corporate office in Pune recently.
According to de Sa, electric was not the sole solution for cleaner vehicular emissions and that it was important for India to look at biofuels as a viable alternative going forward. It was in this context that he felt an obstinate view by policymakers would not help anybody’s cause. “We need multiple answers..biofuels play an important role,” said de Sa.
His colleague, Everton Lopes da Silva, Head of Mahle Bio-Mobility Tech Centre, said Brazil had shown the way forward in using effective use of ethanol as a biofuel. It is now over eight decades since it was first identified as a strategic sector in Brazil and, over the years, is now an integral component of the country’s vehicular population.
The sugarcane industry is a key pillar for production of ethanol and here is where Brazil has optimised this to the hilt. In India, states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka lead the list in sugarcane cultivation along with Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Punjab etc.
Water woes
It is precisely for this reason that policymakers have been pushing for its use as ethanol since this will not only help towards the cause of cleaner emissions but also reduce costly crude oil imports. However, there is a school of thought which is of the view that sugarcane production results in excess use of water which a country like India can ill afford to do. This becomes particularly relevant in these days of global warming where rains are erratic and sometimes insufficient to meet the needs of other crops.
Exploiting groundwater resources for sugarcane cultivation, according to experts, would be catastrophic even though it is among the most profitable cash crops for farmers. Balancing its output along with availability of water remains a constant challenge and this could become even more difficult with increasing use of ethanol.
As de Sa admitted, Brazil has had its share of a “bumpy ride” in biofuels but “we are persisting” and that was something India needed to consider too. Mahle had inaugurated its Bio-Mobility Tech Centre in the South American nation last October and had indicated then that it would work in close collaboration with other tech centres in the US and India.
Milind Godbole, President, Mahle India, said a similar Bio-Mobility Tech Centre would also be commissioned in Pune even though no specific timeframe had been set yet. It is perhaps likely to be operational within the next three years and once that happens there will be a lot of liaising happening with colleagues in Brazil. As Godbole indicated, this was a logical step forward since there would be a lot of research happening out of India and it, therefore, made sense for Mahle to have a biotech beachhead in this part of the world too.
Greater sustainability
In April this year, Arnd Franz, CEO of Mahle, said at the annual press conference in Stuttgart, Germany, that the components it produces for high-efficiency engines can also run on e-fuels, hydrogen or other non-fossil fuels and contribute to greater sustainability.
According to him, e-mobility alone would not be sufficient to achieve climate targets. “Effective climate protection will require faster decarbonisation and everyone must play their part in terms of technology, regulations, industrial policy and infrastructure,” said Franz.
In emerging economies and certain segments of the commercial vehicle sector, internal combustion engines would remain the drive system of choice for the foreseeable future. “This is why we need sustainable internal combustion engines that can be operated with renewable fuels,” he added which is the message the Mahle team from Brazil along with their Indian counterparts sought to convey at the Pune roundtable.
Headquartered in Germany with facilities across the world, Mahle makes piston systems and cylinder components as well as filters, pump systems and oil coolers for engine and transmission applications. Mahle’s other expertise lies in thermal management of batteries while its electric drives, actuators and auxiliaries play a key role in meeting the growing need for electronic and mechatronics parts. It operates out of nearly a dozen facilities in India.
Yamaha, Honda plans
Japanese two-wheeler makers such as Honda and Yamaha have already indicated that they are keen on looking at biofuels as a clean alternative for India even while electric will also be an integral part of their plans. Eishin Chihana, Chairman, Yamaha Motor India Group of Companies, had told this writer in an interview, “In the drive towards carbon neutrality, we have a strong position in ethanol expansion. We have the technology of E85 and E100 in Brazil and can bring those engines to India.”
By increasing the use of ethanol, “we can preserve ICE technology” while also protecting the interests of the supporting ecosystem comprising suppliers, dealers etc. If everything turned electric, continued Chihana, there would be no oil and spare parts whereas ethanol could still contribute to the business of sugarcane farmers. Crude oil imports would also reduce thanks to ethanol “which will be a good thing for India”.
Likewise, Atsushi Ogata, the former MD and President of Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, had said in an interview that he was upbeat about the prospects of flex-fuel for the company’s two-wheeler business in India.
“Honda has a lot of experience in Brazil over the last decade where we sell flex-fuel bikes and have the technology,” he had elaborated. This was also in sync with the Centre’s “energy strategy direction” to reduce oil imports and enhance the agriculture segment with sugarcane that allows biofuel conversion.
Interestingly, continued Ogata, emission norms in Brazil were less than Euro 4 levels while India “is the toughest” at Euro 5/BS VI. “BS VI with flex-fuel technology is a first for Honda but we have the confidence to launch the first flex-fuel model before end-2024,” he said. It is likely that HMSI will work on extending the flex-fuel gasoline engine applications beyond 2025 and “we will increase our product portfolio with flex-fuel types gradually”.
Other clean fuel options
While electric continues to be the buzzword in India’a automotive ecosystem, there is a growing realisation that it cannot remain the sole solution in the clean air drive. Compressed natural gas has now emerged as another viable alternative and the first week of July will see Bajaj Auto launch a CNG motorcycle which is tipped to be the first of its kind in the world.
Carmakers are also increasingly opting for CNG since it is more easily accessible than electric but will still need to grow its presence beyond New Delhi, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Hydrogen is still some time away but can still be considered for long haul distances. Biofuels is, of course, another viable alternative for India going by what the Mahle team had to say.
By the end of the day, the Chinese are comfortably ahead of the rest of the world in electric mobility. Their cars have smart features and are also comfortably priced which will appeal to customers across different markets. The growing dominance of China in the EV space has worried the US and EU sufficiently enough for them to slap massive tariffs on imported cars. India has also stopped all fresh investment from the country’s automakers. Will all this stop the Chinese juggernaut? For now, that seems very unlikely.
