Nitin Gadkari to launch Ethanol-based Toyota Innova HyCross E100 today: All you need to know

Toyota’s Ethanol-based MPV will be launched by Nitin Gadkari in the Indian market today, August 29. This upcoming vehicle will be a Toyota Innova-based MPV, which will run on flex-fuel. This will be India’s first car to run on 100 percent Ethanol and it will also be the world’s first Toyota MPV, which can run on 100 percent Ethanol fuel. The upcoming car will come with a Bharat Stage VI (Phase II) certification. While announcing the launch of the upcoming vehicle during the Mint Sustainability Summit, Nitin Gadkari asked automakers to come up with alternative fuel-powered and green vehicles. This will be yet another car from the Japanese automakers based on cleaner fuel. Last year, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari launched Toyota’s Mirai EV, an all-hydrogen electric vehicle.

Union Minister Shri @nitin_gadkari Ji's public schedule for 29th August 2023. #ElectrifiedFlexFuelVehicle #FlexFuelVehicle@Toyota_India pic.twitter.com/urz2uxchTF

— Office Of Nitin Gadkari (@OfficeOfNG) August 28, 2023

Although, there are no details available on the power train of the upcoming Toyota Ethanol-based MPV, as mentioned in Nitin Gadkari’s X post, this could be an Electrified Flex Fuel Vehicle, which means it could run on purely ethanol-generated electricity.

This launch will be significant for India as this will be the first Bharat Stage VI (Phase II) car in India to run on 100 percent Ethanol fuel. Currently, India does 10 percent Ethanol blending in Petrol.

During the Mint Sustainability Summit, the Minister said that he took an interest in biofuel due to raising the petrol price in the country in 2004. He said that he travelled to Brazil to explore this area. He believed that biofuel could help India save a significant amount of forex that is currently being used to import petroleum.

“If we want to become Atamnirbhar (self-reliant) we have to bring this oil import to zero. At present it is Rs 16 lakh crore. This is a big loss to the economy,” the Union Minister said.

“We have taken a lot of (sustainability) initiatives but we need to take more because pollution is a problem. Ecology and the environment are very important. We need to reduce air and water pollution. We have to improve the quality of water in our rivers. This is a big challenge. We need to protect our ecology and environment,” he added.