Why your next car might be alcoholic, not electric

Transport minister Nitin Gadkari says new vehicles should be able to run on ethanol. Here’s why it might be better for India and the planet than waiting for battery-electrics

- Abhilash.Gaur

Some years ago astronomers discovered a cloud of methyl alcohol 300 times longer than the distance between Earth and the Sun. A tiny bit of that cloud could fulfill our fuel needs for ages, but methyl alcohol is nasty stuff, responsible for dozens of ‘hooch tragedies’ every year. Its heavier cousin ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, is gentler. It’s the spirit in every drink from beer to whisky. It’s also an excellent fuel that burns cleaner than petrol, diesel and other hydrocarbons. The best part is that you can ‘grow’ ethanol rather than depend on a handful of countries to sell it to you. That’s what Brazil has been doing since the 1970s, so why not India?

This question has popped up regularly since the first oil price shock in 1973. Back then, India didn’t make enough alcohol, but things are different now. It is the world’s fifth-largest producer of ethanol. Besides, it’s not a question of high fuel prices alone. Every ounce of coal, gas, petrol or diesel burnt releases carbon that was buried in the earth’s crust aeons ago, worsening global warming. So, transport minister Nitin Gadkari’s recent comments about making ‘flex-fuel engines mandatory, and turning India into an ‘ethanol economy’ are timely.

Why not go electric?