did you hear the news that india is planning to make flex fuel engines mandatory in the coming months if you are a manufacturer who is a part of this automotive supply chain or even a car buyer then this video is a must watch for you also at the end of the video i will be sharing three business ideas which you can pursue or diversify into if and when this policy is implemented so stay tuned [Music] welcome to yet another episode of the thing filter show where we dig a little deeper into the recent developments and news surrounding the mechanical engineering industry so make sure to subscribe to our channel and never miss an episode or even better hit the notification icon a flexible fuel vehicle is basically an alternative fuel vehicle with an internal combustion engine capable of running on more than one seal usually the fuels that are used is gasoline that is petrol blended with either ethanol or methanol as a fuel stored in the same tank but don't get confused with bi-fuel vehicles flex fuel vapors are different than biofuel vehicles because in them two separate fuels are kept or stored in two separate tanks and are used one after the other for example cng or lpg or even hydrogen these engines are capable of burning any blend of fuel in the combustion chamber since the fuel injection and spark timing are adjusted automatically as per the actual blend detected by the fuel sensor now what this means as a car owner is that you don't need to worry about which blend of petrol you have actually put in the car since the vehicle is smart enough to detect and make adjustments accordingly flex fuel engines are a marvel of modern engineering since it allows the cars to take advantage of higher octane levels in ethanol it actually improves the engine performance which eventually saves money for the car owners there are two main benefits of using flex fuels that is ethanol blended petrol one is to reduce the dependence on foreign oil and 2 is to reduce the emission so when it is burned we don't get carbon monoxide or other toxic emissions which we get from burning petrol this reduces the carbon footprint compared to burning petrol apart from environment sustainability another major advantage for a country like india is that the raw material required for making ethanol or ethanol is abundantly available to us since ethanol is a byproduct of agricultural crops like sugar cane corn and wheat which we have abundant supply of so much so that our country actually faces problem storing surplus produce of these crops however the main benefit that you and i will enjoy is the reduced spend on petrol fuel costs in india have been rising for a very long time and this is a matter of concern for individuals who own petrol vehicles as we are aware in major cities in india cost of one liter of petrol has crossed hundred rupees later with the use of flex fuels we can estimate that it will come down to around 65 to 70 rupees a liter the major benefit of using flex fuel engines is that they are more environmentally sustainable since they emit 50 percent lower carbon monoxide and up to 80 percent lower nitrogen oxides and other hydrocarbons compared to regular vehicles lower efficience are important for people staying in metros or big cities since degrading air quality is a major concern which needs immediate solution if we take examples from other countries where these flex fuel engines have been in use for a very long time it can be seen that these engines can be converted to run on 100 pure ethanol very cheaply and quickly using after market kits these kits contain an oxygen sensor placed on the exhaust system of the car which gives information on engine's air fuel ratio back to the electronic control unit the unit then adjusts the engine's fuel based on this feedback and maintains optimal combustion now i know a question will be cropping up in your mind that whether you will be able to use these flex fuels in your existing petrol vehicle while regular petrol vehicles are not specifically designed to run on these fuels but technically you can use your vehicles for a short term however this definitely is not a long term solution for several reasons one of the reasons is that ethanol unlike petrol is prone to oxidation which can cause a ground-like sediment to accumulate in various engine parts another reason is that ethanol will react with other materials in the car like rubber which can cause then degradation hence if flex fuels are to be rolled out engines will have to be specifically built for them what this means is that an additional engine variant for car manufacturers to be built in their production facilities making it mandatory to manufacture these flex fuel vehicles will impact the indian automotive industry significantly the popularity of these flex fuel vehicles in several other countries like the brazil or the usa is majorly because of the fact that the flex fuels are easily available in abundance at regular pumps hence making these cars is one issue but supplying this flex fuels at regular pumps will be a challenge and it needs to be taken seriously before making a policy change the technology to make these vehicles or engines is certainly not new however making these engines available in india will take a greater part of the year at least since it requires modification in the existing supply chain and calibrating these engines to sort indian conditions additionally a policy like this will give manufacturers who are already in advanced flex fuel markets an advantage over indigenous car manufacturers companies like volkswagen toyota andesan yundai they are already present in brazil or usa and making these kind of cars since a very long time hence any such policy implementation will be beneficial for companies like this at first according to our industry expert for car manufacturing company it is the variety that kills them setting up an additional engine variant production line is certainly not cheap and all this accumulates as internal company costs which these companies do not like to do unless they are forced to apart from that these additional manufacturing costs will be passed on in some measure to consumers like us as promised at the start of this video i am going to share some golden nuggets of business ideas that i came up with which you can pursue to diversify your current business so here they are the obvious business case is to make auto components specifically for these engine variants and approach car manufacturers because remember each and every component which the fuel touches will have to be redesigned and rebuilt you can base an entire business in making after market kits for retrofitting with existing vehicles to run on flex fuels this could mean that anybody can use their existing vehicle and use the skids to run on any type of non-petroleum based fuels this technology will be especially useful for places where petroleum is expensive or difficult to update last but not the least you can think of manufacturing testing kits or equipment to test the exact blend of petrol such kind of kits will be in huge demand across the country and across the entire fuel supply chain to avoid adulteration i hope you learn at least some basics about flex fuel cars and i'll be very happy if some of you can make use of the business ideas that i just shared adoption of this technology will depend on adequate infrastructure and public perception as of now this development looks good on paper for all stakeholders involved however how this plays out only time will take and finally please don't forget to give your feedback in the comment section below please remember your comments are like fuel for us to make videos like these thank you [Music] you
