500 ethanol pumps by year-end: Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri

NEW DELHI: Around 500 ethanol dispensing stations (E100) will be set up in the country by Dec and 5,000 by 2027, petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri said Thursday. The move is aimed at accelerating penetration of flex fuel vehicles (FFVs). Puri made the announcement at launch of India’s first flex-fuel car — WagonR by Maruti Suzuki — which can run on ethanol blended fuel beyond the current 20% threshold, signalling a fresh push to put more ethanol at pumps and less imported fuel in vehicles.

“There was an attempt earlier to set up a large number of E100 dispensing stations, but vehicles were not ready,” Puri said at the event where road transport minister Nitin Gadkari was also present. He added that the rollout will start with 50-100 stations in Delhi-NCR, Pune, Mumbai and Nagpur.

Puri said govt is working on supportive steps such as pricing support, road tax concessions, availability of E85 testing fuel, special identifiers for FFVs and retail outlets, consumer awareness initiatives, and development of storage and dispensing infrastructure. TNN