BENGALURU: In a first in the country, Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will be running 20 buses on Methanol-Diesel blend. Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari who flagged off the buses here on Sunday, said the move will reduce pollution and oil import. The 15 per cent Methanol blended with Diesel (called MD15) will be used on 20 BMTC buses that will run on a pilot basis for three months.
“It is a great day in the history of Indian petroleum. As an alternative to petroleum, today we have introduced methanol-blended fuel. We are importing oil to the tune of Rs 16,000 crore every year. There are 34 crore vehicles in India and the transport sector is one of the highest polluting ones. Imports can be reduced and pollution cut with this blend,” Gadkari said, and added that a day will come when petrol will be replaced by ethanol and diesel by methanol.
On the cost of operating public transport, Gadkari said if the pilot project is successful, public buses that solely rely on diesel can shift to methanol which costs around Rs 25 per litre. “By doing so, public transportation that is under loss can turn the tide as the cost of operations can be reduced drastically,” he said.
Stating that almost 60 per cent of the bus corporation’s monthly revenue is going to diesel, BMTC MD Sathyavathi said, “We are spending nearly Rs 70 crore on diesel. By using methanol, we can cut down the cost. We will operate 20 buses on a Methanol-Diesel blend supplied by Indian Oil. In the pilot run, we will look at how the vehicle is functioning, does the blend affect the engine, the pollution emitted etc and then take a call on expanding.”
An MoU was signed between BMTC and Ashok Leyland to carry out field trials in Bengaluru as the first national pilot programme for the Methanol Diesel bus, she said.
First M100 truck
India’s first 100 per cent methanol-run Ashok Leyland truck (M100) was flagged off by Nitin Gadkari. This is claimed to be India’s first and world’s second such methanol-run truck. The prototype truck will shortly be produced as a market offering and Ashok Leyland is aiming to create a revolution in replacing diesel in the logistics sector.