Debate intensifies over zero-emission tag for flex-fuel cars in India

The debate comes as the government reviews the next phase of CAFE norms and considers policy measures to reduce emissions in the transport sector.

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Carmakers are sparring over a Niti Aayog report that said flex-fuel and compressed biogas powered vehicles should be classified as zero emission. The report released last month outlined a roadmap for decarbonising India’s transport sector.Flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs) are internal combustion engine vehicles that run on higher ethanol blends, while CBG vehicles run on biogas.

While Maruti Suzuki, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) and the Indian Sugar & Bioenergy Manufacturers Association (ISMA) have written to Niti Aayog backing the inclusion of flex-fuel and compressed biogas vehicles as ZEVs in the report dated February 10, rivals Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) have opposed the move, arguing that only tailpipe emissions should determine classification.

The disagreement comes when the government is weighing the third phase of Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) norms amid controversy over easing small-car emission standards.

While Tata and Mahindra have argued that classifying these vehicles as ZEVs is not technically accurate as they derive energy from ICE, which has tailpipe emissions, proponents say evaluating lifecycle emissions of technologies and promoting indigenous green fuels could strengthen energy security in a charged geopolitical landscape.

In a letter to Niti Aayog, Toyota said given that fossil fuel consumption and carbon emission are the “real enemies,” actual real-world results cannot be achieved by defining ZEVs using “the outdated legacy approach” based on vehicle tail pipe emissions.”Realisation of actual net zero emissions by 2070 necessarily requires tackling the problem holistically on a life cycle perspective that addresses the entire value chain”, TKM held.The country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki in a letter dated Feb 26 concurred, “Moving beyond tailpipe-only metrics ensures that upstream emissions, grid composition and fuel production pathways are fully accounted for. This reflects a systems-based understanding of the decarbonisation challenge.”

The company further said as per the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), sustainable produced biofuels operate “within a biogenic carbon cycle and do not introduce new fossil carbon into the atmosphere when assessed on a lifecycle basis,” making the classification of both FFVs and CBG as zero emission vehicles scientifically aligned on lifecycle basis.

However, Tata Motors countered the inclusion holding bringing FFV and CBG vehicles under a unified ZEV framework would not be recognised by any major international standard.