SIAM hosts 17th Lecture on ‘Sustainable Roadmap for Fuels in Automotive Sector’

Focuses on Policies, Regulations, and Institutional Framework on Cleaner Fuels, Alternative fuels, Renewable Energy and Climate Resilient structures

To deliberate upon Auto Industry’s goals towards the net-zero-carbon-emissions, renewable-energy and cleaner-fuels, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the apex automotive industry body, organized a virtual environment lecture session on ‘Sustainable Roadmap for Fuels in Automotive Sector’ and other related issues. The discussions veered around ‘imperatives of decarbonization’ in the automotive sector with national and international perspectives.

Segmented into two sessions, the lecture session witnessed industry stalwarts and experts discussing the policy, regulatory and legislative framework around sustainable and alternative fuels in the automotive Sector.

In his welcome address, Mr Prashant K Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM, underlined the importance of renewable fuels and stated current technological innovations for minimizing emissions. The transition to cleaner and renewable energy is transforming the world Recently held CoP-26 meetings on climate change at Glasgow and India’s five land mark commitments set the context of  today’s session . In his address, he highlighted the following for sustainable roadmap for fuels: (i) usage of low carbon and renewable fuels, (ii) promotion of ethanol, gaseous fuels & electricity, and (iii) Integrating Environmental Sustainable Goals to lead way towards decarbonization.

Mr Banerjee stated the roadmap that was deliberated envisaged transitioning to Renewable energy, alternative fuels which can help the country to ultimately achieve net zero carbon emissions targeted for 2070.

The Guest of Honor appreciated the SIAM’s commitment in bringing all stakeholders together on one platform for such rich knowledge exchange on sustainable roadmap for fuels. Mr Sunil Kumar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, Stated, “Our Hon’ble Prime Minister is driving the nation towards self-reliance through the exploration of alternative energy usage, our ministry is continuously working to reduce fossil fuel, import dependency, and encouraging use of locally available renewable energy resources in the energy mix of India. It is the decade of decarbonization, key challenge of decarbonizing fuel mix needs the commitment for both Government as well as industry. Accordingly we are now anticipating to have 20% ethanol blended petrol from 2025 onward, and increased number of CNG stations to 10000 till 2030. Further, he stated CNG/LNG to be used as priority fuel by every State.

In his special address, Dr Anjan Ray, Director, Indian Institute of Petroleum, said, “The discourses in the last few days have changed from simply implementing alternative and renewable fuels to ensuring that we are heading towards net zero commitments. Crop rotation on 40 million hectare of irrigated land can lead us the way to produce 40% of our diesel pool equivalent of biofuels. Using alternative fuels such as green diesel and biodiesel should be encouraged. Furthermore, Hydrogen based fuels can only work if there production is net carbon negative. It should be the interest of the auto community to work closely with research organization’s and think tanks to redesign our entire automotive ecosystem to make sure that it is low carbon, sustainable, warranty enabled and passenger friendly.”

Mr Neeraj Sinha, Advisor, NITI Aayog, expressed in his presentation themed “Decarbonization of Road Transportation Sector” that “concerns are currently being raised about rising carbon emissions around the world. The recent National Hydrogen Mission launched by our Hon’ble Prime Minister encourages us to look into the climate impact of alternative fuels. We should have very ambitious policies to achieve our goals. E-Amrit portal launched recently at Cop26 is a one-stop solution for all information you need on the topics such as decarbonisation.

In his thematic presentation, Mr Som Kapoor, Partner and Principal, E & Y, discussed about the ‘Competing Fuel Options for Auto Sector Mobility’ with giving an insight to the changing perspective of world towards alternative fuels and reducing carbon emissions.

Giving an overview on the Roadmap for fuels in automotive sector, Mr R Ramaprabhu, Chairman, SIAM (Fuel Subgroup), Head Fluids Technology (PTD) Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, focussed on the status of sustainable clean fuels in India, while highlighting the Perspectives, Challenges, and Opportunities related to Ethanol technology.

Mr Harjeet Singh, Chairman, SIAM Two Wheeler Group and Executive Advisor, Hero MotoCorp explained the status of sustainable clean fuels in India, while underlining the  challenges and opportunities, he mentioned that methanol technology is poised to provide low carbon options.

While discussing the alternative fuels domain, Mr S S V Ramkumar, Director (R&D), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, elaborated upon “Hydrogen as automotive fuel”. Hydrogen can act as a cost-effective and environmentally compatible solutions, for a country like India. Emphasis was given upon the opportunities and challenges using hydrogen as a fuel.

Mr  Pascal Mast, Director-New Technologies and Sustainable Services, TÜV SÜD Auto Service GmbH) and Dr Thomas Weiss, Manager-Hydrogen Services (TÜV SÜD Auto Service GmbH) threw light on the global trends of the state-of-the-art comparison and general “readiness check”, around the safety and usage aspects related to hydrogen as a fuel.

Mr P K Pandey, Ex. Vice President, Indraprastha Gas Ltd hS S V Ramkumar,ighlighted the role of gaseous fuels and their scope in India. He also spoke on pollution reduction potential of LNG/CNG; and on sustainable mobility; while emphasizing on the current status of the development of such technologies in the country.

In the discussions, it was highlighted that for private players, there are multiple opportunities already existing in the country, in the areas of renewable technologies and sustainable mobility. These opportunities can lay the roadmap for India’s cleaner future.

With these thought-provoking sessions upon various Policies, Regulations on Fuels, Infrastructure related to Alternative fuels, Renewable Energy and Climate Resilient structures including continual utilization of available resources, the lecture series officially concluded on a high note, with a rich and insightful exchange of ideas, best practices and strategies.

About SIAM:

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) is a not-for-profit apex national body representing all major vehicle and vehicular engine manufacturers in India. SIAM works towards supporting the sustainable development of the Indian Automobile Industry with the vision that India emerges as the destination of choice in the world for design and manufacture of automobiles. It also works towards facilitating enhancement of the competitiveness of the Indian Automobile Industry, reducing the cost of vehicles, increasing productivity, and achieving global standards of quality.