Maruti Suzuki WagonR flex-fuel launch on June 4: What to expect

Maruti Suzuki India will introduce the country’s first flex-fuel car, a WagonR, on June 4. The flex-fuel version of the tall-boy WagonR will be launched by Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, and Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri.

It is important to note the launch of Maruti Suzuki WagonR flex-fuel comes even before the fuel is available. Flex-fuel vehicles generally use E85, a fuel blend containing 15% petrol and 85% ethanol. Flex-fuel vehicles are also capable of running on 100% ethanol.

Gadkari had last week said that Maruti Suzuki’s new flex-fuel car can run on 100% ethanol.

In April, the ministry of road transport and highways amended automobile testing and certification regulations in April to recognise E100 (100% ethanol) fuel, paving the way for the launch of vehicles powered entirely by ethanol.

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Resolving the chicken and egg situation

Maruti Suzuki’s upcoming car launch on June 4 puts an end to the ongoing chicken and egg situation where it was not clear what would come first: the car or the fuel.

Now, the biggest challenge is creating an ecosystem to make flex fuel available across the country. The petroleum minister is likely to throw some light on that when he turns up at the launch ceremony.

Any new technology needs an ecosystem. Just like India created an ecosystem to promote compressed natural gas-powered vehicles over the last two decades and the way charging infrastructure is coming up for electric vehicles, existing petrol pumps would need some tweaks so that these gas stations are able to dispense flex-fuel.
And creating infrastructure for E85 is expected to be much easier than it was for CNG and electric vehicles.

The government may swap the existing high RON (Research Octane Number) dispensing infrastructure for E85 fuel as even normal petrol sold at pumps is now RON 95. Earlier, petrol was sold in India with RON of 88. This was improved further to RON 95 with blending of Ethanol 20, resulting in better anti knocking properties.

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Price of fuel

Industry executives say E85 should be priced at least 30% lower than regular petrol to make it commercially attractive for flex-fuel car buyers. The demand stems from the fact that ethanol has 33% lower calorific value than petrol. And with less energy density, a vehicle would require more flex-fuel than petrol to go the same distance.

Upfront cost

The upfront cost of a flex-fuel vehicle is likely to be around ₹40,000 to ₹50,000 more than a conventional car as corrosion-resistant parts compatible with higher ethanol blend could cost more. “E100 vehicles are expected to cost roughly ₹50,000 more than regular E20 vehicles as corrosion-resistant parts are expensive,” says Puneet Gupta, Director, India & ASEAN Automotive Market, S&P Global Mobility.

Maruti Suzuki will reveal the prices for its flex-fuel WagonR on June 4.