Nitin Gadkari Unveils Toyota Corolla Altis Flex-Fuel Car in India, Details Here

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road, Transport & Highways, has unveiled Toyota Corolla Altis Flex-fuel car, which has been touted as first of its kind pilot project on Flexi-Fuel Strong Hybrid Electric Vehicles (FFV-SHEV) in India. This project intends to examine whether ethanol-powered flex fuel vehicles can be viable in Indian conditions.

Further, as a part of this project, collected data will be shared with the prestigious Indian Institute of Science, for conducting a deeper study about the well-to-wheel carbon emissions of FFV / FFV-SHEV in the Indian context. In this regard, a Memorandum of Understanding was also signed between Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

The launch event was also graced by Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Union Minister of Heavy Industries, Hon’ble Shri. Bhupinder Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change and Hon’ble Shri. Rameswar Teli, Minister of State for Petroleum & Natural Gas.

Furthermore, several key government dignitaries, high-ranking diplomats, industry leaders, academia along with senior executives of Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Mr Masakazu Yoshimura, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Vikram S Kirloskar – Vice Chairman, Mr. Vikram Gulati – Executive Vice President and Mr. Sudeep S. Dalvi – Senior Vice President and Chief Communication Officer, were present at the event.

Gadkari didn’t shy away from getting behind the wheel and taking the left-hand-drive Corolla Altis hybrid to a spin at the launch venue. The flex-fuel sedan was imported from Toyota Brazil. Powered by a 1.8L ethanol petrol hybrid engine, it runs on fuel with ethanol content ranging between 20-100 percent while generating power output of nearly 101 bhp and torque performance of 142 Nm. The petrol engine is paired with a 1.3 kWh battery which churns out 72 bhp and 163 Nm. This powertrain combination is linked to a CVT gearbox.

Earlier, Gadkari had also inaugurated another pilot project of Toyota as the company introduced the hydrogen-powered Mirai sedan in India. It is fairly evident that the Indian government is aggressively pushing for alternative fuel for vehicles to reduce dependency on oil imports. Furthermore, due to their environment-friendly nature, these vehicles also help in getting rid of the pollution.

Also Read: Toyota Mirai, India’s First Hydrogen FCEV Launched – Here’s All You Need to Know

The flex-fuel production has already commenced in India with three grades namely E95, E90, E85 initially developed. The nomenclature of the aforementioned fuel grades is based on the percentage of petrol againt the percentage of ethanol mix.

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