You are likely familiar with various car companies' brands, such as Volkswagen, Toyota, BMW, etc. unless you have been living under a rock for the past few decades. The Japanese giant Toyota is the most prominent of these well-known companies, producing the largest number of vehicles worldwide. However, this list does not highlight the most valuable car companies. Instead, it reveals the companies that have paid the most debt globally. It is not uncommon for businesses to acquire debts to function, so being in debt is not necessarily a significant issue for these companies.

If you look closely at the list, you'll notice a peculiar trend. Out of the 12 companies listed, 6 of them are automotive companies, with Toyota being the company that has acquired the most debt at $186 billion. It's strange to see this trend persist not just in the current year, but in the past as well. In 2019, the most indebted companies also included automotive companies like VW AG, Daimler, Ford Motor Company, and BMW. Upon analyzing data from the past five years, I found that aside from major players in the automobile industry, no other industry had acquired such a large amount of debt. While telecom companies do acquire high amounts of debt, this trend is not as consistent as it is with automotive companies.

It appears that the same situation is now occurring with car companies. This raises a significant question: Why is this exception limited to car companies? Additionally, there is concern over whether these companies may face bankruptcy after acquiring such substantial loans. However, there is no need to worry about this colossal debt causing trouble for these companies, as such an outcome is highly unlikely to occur.

What is the reason for car companies to never go into debt?

Keep the thought of going bankrupt aside, Volkswagen and Toyota are highly profitable automotive brands at this point in time almost every car company acquires a particular amount of debt. Whether it is a significant company or a minor one, this is because operating a car company requires a massive amount of capital. This factor alone is not sufficient, to keep these companies in the list of the top 10 most indebted car companies from around lakhs of the automobile companies around the world. The reason behind that is the finance wings in these companies. 

Did you know that big car companies like Ford, Toyota, and Volkswagen have their own finance departments? These departments help the companies' dealers keep their stock and assist consumers in acquiring loans. To do this, car companies receive a large amount of capital from banks at a lower interest rate. They provide this capital to individuals at a slightly higher interest rate than the one at which they acquired it, resulting in a profit. Due to this approach, car companies have acquired billions of dollars in loans. Although the majority of this capital is acquired by their finance departments, there may be more to the story.

How do Indian Car companies bear the debt?

Let's understand this with two Indian car brands. TATA Motors also has a finance wing. It is called TATA Car Finance and they provide loans exclusively for TATA cars, This finance wing comes under TATA Motors. But if we talk about Mahindra and Mahindra the name of their financial wing is Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services. But this wing does not come under the Mahindra and Mahindra car company and that's why it is listed as a separate entity in the Indian Stock Market. That's why Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services can also provide loans on different types of vehicles manufactured by Mahindra and Mahindra and even on the vehicles of other brands unlike TATA Car Finance, etc. However, the car companies that had acquired the most amount of debt in the world provide loans exclusively on their cars just like TATA Motors. We could observe one more thing from here and it is that more car companies are present in this list. More is the amount of debt they have acquired, Toyota, Volkswagen, Ford, and Mercedes are the top companies in the world in terms of revenue we can observe here that the debt size is directly proportional to the size of the company. The bigger the brand, the bigger the debt.

Debt is directly proportional to the size of the company because these companies are selling more vehicles. As discussed earlier these car companies have to first acquire a loan from a bank. The more cars they sell, the more amount of debt these companies would acquire, That is the reason the bigger the brand, the more the amount of debt acquired by them from this, we can also understand that increasing debt figures means that these companies are performing well. 

The debt of Ford.

Since they are selling more vehicles that's the amount of debt is increasing and if we especially talk about Ford then they are escaping from going bankrupt only because of their lending firm. Do you want to know how? The sale figures of Ford is continuously declining in its home market and we can also observe internationally that they are stopping their operations in various markets one after the other. They had exited from Japan and India and are also declining in China. That's why the situation of Ford has become so critical in recent years that if they did not have any financial subsidiary. They could have reported bankruptcy according to a report published in the year 2020 The lending firm under Ford is generating 50% of the overall profit generated by Ford. This means the number of vehicles Ford is selling similar is to the profit they are earning through the interest from the loans they are providing to their customers. But usually, it is observed that the finance arm of any company generates only 15-20% of the profit for the company that's why it has been considered. In the case of Ford if they did not have any finance arm they were not capable of spending capital on the R&D of electric vehicles.

Now we understand that this mountainous debt on the car companies. Is not at all like any typical debt some car companies are even performing exceptionally but debt is acquired by almost every car company. Whether they have a financial wing under them or not are all such companies also profitable? No and from where there comes a U-turn in the story of the debt of these car companies. Now do read very carefully what I am going to say If you follow the car industry closely. You might have also noticed that apart from a few countries in the world. The majority of the countries in the world have only one or two car brands India has only two major car companies TATA Motors, and Mahindra and Mahindra. Korea also has only three major car companies Hyundai, Kia, and Ssangyong, While a country like Australia does not have any car brands and countries that had multiple or successful car companies in the past, the majority of those companies have been already sold out.

Why do car brands do not have any ownership of their own?

Let's talk about the United Kingdom Rolls Royce and Mini Cooper are owned by the BMW group. Bentley is owned by the Volkswagen group. Jaguar and Land Rover are owned by TATA Motors and this leaves only one car brand Aston Martin Its condition is so poor that It can file for bankruptcy anytime. Britain is not the only one that has such a condition. The majority of the European and American car companies have experienced this. It is considered that at one time there were around 300-400 car brands in Britain. But today it can be observed that the brands that are left today do not have any ownership of their own. This is not the case in Britain there are only two companies in the US i.e., Ford and Tesla. They have not filed for bankruptcy till now, according to a tweet written by Elon Musk The US had 1000 Auto start-ups at one time. But today all have become non-existent.

Why have so many brands shut down or been sold?

Even though they had a huge brand value. The answer is Debt other than lending departments, car companies require a tremendous amount of capital for their operations and it is considered that the car business is the toughest in the whole world. It is so difficult to operate a car company that developing a rocket and sending it to the moon is easier. Hear it from the owner of a space company car companies require heavy capital to set up their manufacturing plants to acquire the raw material, to manufacture their cars, to provide the salaries, and to ship their products as well. Apart from this, if the companies observe any problem in the whole batch of any car. They have to recall the cars, remove the flaws, and deliver them back to the customers and if I talk about the year 2023 only General Motors had recalled 6.5 Lakhs SUVs Jeep had recalled 2.19 Lakh cars. In the year 2023 alone Honda has recalled 5 Lakh cars.

Regarding the safety belt issues similarly Indian car companies have also done thousands of recalls. Alone in the year 2023, these expenses are highly diminished in front of a tremendous expense. It is also associated with the car companies and it is R&D For launching new models, And to also upgrade the current models, Automotive Brands have to spend a massive amount of capital. If you don't know, R&D stands for Research and Development apart from this, they have to spend huge capital on the R&D of the engines to continuously get stricter emission norms. Apart from this, safety norms are also getting highly strict around the world and that's why automotive companies have to spend a huge amount of capital on the R&D of both active and passive safety features the biggest transition that the world is experiencing at present. That is the world is shifting from IC Engines vehicles to Electric vehicles Car companies have to spend a huge amount of capital on this due to the same reason.

Debt of Tata Motors and Mahindra

TATA Motors and Mahindra Mahindra are the most cash-rich companies in India and come under the top 10 most indebted companies in India. Yes, because these companies also use the majority of the debt in the R&D of cars. You can observe the same in the chart car companies spend huge amounts of capital on the R&D of cars. What is the intensity of the R&D of these car companies? From this chart, we can understand that all the car companies that are present in this chart Volkswagen Group has spent the most capital on the R&D of cars. According to this list, TATA Motors has the biggest intensity in the R&D of cars, and take into account that here we are talking about the whole world, not India. Here R&D intensity means that what percentage of the sales these companies are spending on R&D of the cars? and TATA Motors has the biggest R&D intensity. This could be because the market capitalization of TATA Motors is less in comparison to the other companies present in this chart and TATA Motors is only limited to India. But obviously, since they want to grow, that's why they are spending huge amounts of money. In the R&D of their vehicles, As discussed previously almost every car brand has acquired a huge amount of debt. There is an exception as well, this brand has not acquired any amount of loan, and this company is Tesla!

How can Tesla accomplish this?

Because Elon Musk has created massive hype around him and Tesla. Due to this, the value of this company is touching the sky. A high value means that the stock price of Tesla in the stock market is very high. It is so high that the valuation of Tesla is double the valuation of Toyota. Even though Tesla has twice the brand value of Toyota. But, Toyota is far ahead of Tesla in terms of its sales since Toyota is a monstrous company. That's why the expenses of companies like Toyota are very high compared to companies like Tesla. But still, Tesla is not so small company it should have definitely acquired a certain amount of debt. However, Tesla has not acquired any debt because due to its increased share prices, they indulge in equity funding. They have acquired an almost negligible amount of debt Now, after reading this article, you might have understood, how difficult it is to operate a car company!

Next time you are about to criticize any car company blindly. You should keep one thing in mind. These companies are in a fight with many government policies and several odds as well and it takes a considerable amount of risk to deliver an affordable car to you. If you have loved reading this article please share this little piece of blog and don't forget to mention your thoughts in the comment section.

 Imagine a poor boy in a small village who works in the fields for 17 hours every day, just for one square meal a day. Now imagine that this boy became the owner of a car company worth lakh crore in the future. This is the story of the founder of Hyundai, Chang Ju-Yung's early struggles, Chung Ju-Yung was born in 1915 in a small village in Korea. He wanted to become a schoolteacher, but his family was so poor that he couldn't study much. 

As a child, he had to work in the fields with his family, but after working so hard, sometimes, they couldn't even feed each other and forget about proper clothes and medical care. Chung had to go to a nearby city to sell wood. There he saw that people had enough food and clothes without toiling in the field the whole day. Seeing all that made him really sad and frustrated. He wanted a better life for himself.

The Formative Years of Chung Ju-Yang

One day, he read in the newspaper that a big construction site in a city nearby needed laborers. This news motivated him to do something. In 1932, at the age of 16, Chung made a surprising decision. He was going to run away to the city. One night, Chung quietly left for the city with his friend. He reached Kowon City after walking about 160 km and started working as a construction laborer. It was hard work for measly wages. But Chung was happy because he was able to earn independently for the first time in his life. Life continued like this for about two months until he got caught. 

Chung's father found him and he had to come back to farming. His family was happy to have him back but Chung was not. These two months ignited a passion for construction and civil engineering in Chung. Also, he knew that he would never be able to beat poverty by working in the fields and that's why he tried to run away two more times. But each time, his father found him. Finally, in 1934, at the age of 18, he attempted his fourth escape, and this time, no one stopped him. He reached Seoul which is the capital of South Korea today. He did whatever work he found there.

Chung's Employment at a Rice Store

First, a construction laborer, then a factory worker, and finally, he got a delivery boy's job at Bokhyang Rice Store. Customers and the shop owners were so impressed with his work that in just six months, he became the store's manager. After this, Chung worked very hard to grow the shop. Then, in 1937, the store's owner fell seriously ill and made a surprising decision. Thanks to Chung's hard work, he handed the store over to him. At the age of 22, Chung became the owner of a business as an employee. In the next two years, Chung worked even harder, and built trust and reputation in the market, which helped him grow his business. Everything was going well, but then suddenly a tragedy occurred. It was the World War II era, and Japan ruled Korea. Japan wanted sufficient rice supply for their army during the war, and it overtook all the rice shops in Korea, including Chung's rice shop. All of his hard work was destroyed at once. Chang was unfortunate, but he didn't give up. Starting Hyundai "If I put my heart and soul sincerely into whatever work I am doing, I will surely succeed." With this thought, he started looking for a business that the Japanese government couldn't control.

Chung's Automotive Repair Enterprise

Soon, he started focusing on the car repair business. In 1940, he took a loan of 3,000 won and opened an Ado service garage. But this time, he was so unfortunate that the garage burnt down just after a month of opening and everything was burnt to ashes. Chung's situation was very difficult. He had to pay his loan and compensate his customers for the loss.

If this situation occurred in anybody's life a normal person could’ve easily given up. But like always, Chung faced a problem head first. He took another loan of 3,500 won and built an even better garage. Chung realized that the biggest problem for the customers was the long period (waiting period) it took to get their cars repaired. So looking at this as an opportunity, he made speed his main focus. Where his competitors took 20 days for certain repairs, Chung's garage would do them in 5 days. His garage was so successful that in the next 3 years, i.e. till 1943, his workforce grew up to 80 employees. By this time, Chung had repaid all of the loans and settled his family in Seoul. Business was growing rapidly but then another disaster struck. Japan needed to make war-related equipment for World War II. So, Japan took its garage ownership and merged it with a local steel plant. Once again, his business was taken away from him. Chang had come back to square one. He was forced to return to his village with his family. But this time, he had 50,000 won saved. And he was confident that he would establish another business. 

What is the Genesis of Hyundai Motor Company's Establishment?

With the end of World War II, Japan's rule in Korea also ended. Northern areas of Korea had the Soviet Union's influence and America's in the southern area. Both of them fought the war against Japan in World War II. That's why Korea was divided between North and South Korea. Chung came back to Seoul in 1946 and restarted his car repair business. Business was old but this time, the name was new. “Hyundai Auto Service” -Hyundai means modern- The car repair business was going on well, and that's when Chung noticed that America was constructing buildings for its military forces.

The Construction that Foretold Hyundai's Emergence

He spotted a big opportunity in the construction business. He didn't have much experience in construction. But he still had that passion for construction that he had since he worked as a laborer in the past. That's why, at the age of 31 in 1947, he created the Hyundai Civil Works Company and entered the construction business. He got many small projects in the beginning, but by the 1950s, his company was getting major construction projects. And now this was his major business. Everything was going fine, but we saw another twist in the tale.

In June 1950, North Korea attacked South Korea. North Korean troops were very close to Seoul. That's why Chung had to escape to Pusan with all of his savings. But even after such a big crisis, Chung didn't give up. At that time, the US Army was fighting the North Korean army along with South Korea. And they needed tents, warehouses, and army headquarters. Chung observed that Americans had no shortage of money. They just wanted reliable and timely delivery. And Chung gave it to them. He started with a small team and adopted the "Can Do" motto “If the price is right, they would do any construction project”. A war was underway and he had to face many problems and many losses. But once he gave his word, he never left any project in the middle. Due to this reliability, he developed a strong relationship with Americans. The war ended in 1952, but Chung continued getting contracts from America. Later, to rebuild the country, the South Korean government began building bridges, dams, and roads rapidly. Hyundai played a major role in all this and had exponential growth in the business. 

South Korea's biggest dam, Soyoung Dam, and the most important expressway, Kyungbu Expressway were made by Hyundai. Making Cars In the 1960s, Chung had reached his early 50s and owned a successful construction company owner. But he wasn't satisfied with this.

Hyundai Motor Company

Chung had already built thousands of kilometers of roads and now it was time to build cars to run on those roads. In 1967, Chung established the Hyundai Motor Company. In 1968, he had a deal with Ford in which he was going to assemble the Cortina cars. This joint venture ran successfully for two years. After this, conflicts started developing between the two companies. Ford didn't want Hyundai to build its own cars. And that's why, in 1973, Chung ended that partnership and started looking for new partners immediately. He tried to partner with General Motors and Volkswagen for their manufacturing technology. But everyone refused. Finally, in the same year, they partnered with Japan's Mitsubishi Motors.

Hyundai Pony

Mitsubishi was ready to give Hyundai its car-making technology. The best part was that as per this deal, Hyundai could sell its own cars. Around the same time, the South Korean government issued an order for automobile companies to build citizens' cars. A car that is affordable and reliable and only uses parts made in South Korea. In 1976, Chung set up a new plant and Hyundai produced South Korea's first-ever mass-produced car, the Hyundai Pony. Due to its affordability, this car was so successful in South Korea that Hyundai captured a 60% market share.

It became the biggest car company in South Korea. But there was one catch. The total car market of South Korea was only 30,000 cars. It was not sufficient to be profitable. Also, although Hyundai Pony was successful in South Korea, it was a huge failure in the overseas market. The quality of the car was not good. Its paint would fade in the heat. And it often had mechanical issues.

The visionary foresight demonstrated by Hyundai's founder

Due to these reasons, Hyundai Motor Company has been at a loss for the last 7 years. People suggested Chung that should close the company immediately. But Chung's decision shocked everyone. Instead of closing, he was planning to build a new car factory that would manufacture 300,000 cars annually. The company's management couldn't understand this decision. Who will buy 3,00,000 vehicles in a market of 30,000 vehicles? But Chang knew the answer. South Korean economy was growing rapidly and thousands of people were becoming economically empowered every year. That meant that the demand for cars was going to increase rapidly in the coming years. Plus, Hyundai's new vehicles were explicitly made to export to foreign countries.

This factory was built in 1980, and in 1982, Hyundai launched Pony 2 with many improvements. This car was not only a massive hit in South Korea, but it was also successfully exported to Africa, Latin America, and Canada. In the next few years, Hyundai sold 400,000 cars and became profitable. Hyundai was now established as a decent car company on a global level. But the toughest and biggest car market in the world, the USA, was still to crack.

Internationally, it was important to be successful in the USA to become a major car company from a decent car company, When Hyundai studied the US market, it realized that Japan had captured the compact car segment. And there's already cut-throat competition in the mid and large-sized American car market. That's why Hyundai targeted the sub-compact car market because the competition was virtually zero. Also, Hyundai saw that there's a huge second-hand car market in the USA. They offered their new Hyundai Excel at the price of a second-hand car. That too with a five-year warranty. This strategy shook the car market in the USA. Second-hand car buyers instantly shifted to the Hyundai XL. In 1986, Hyundai sold about 170,000 Excels in the USA. In 1987, they sold about 260,000 cars.

In these years, Hyundai XL became the top-selling imported car in the USA. Until then, no other car company had seen such an initial success in the US market. And with that, Hyundai was established as a major car company on a global level.

Hyundai Group

That year, at the age of 72, Chung retired from Hyundai and became the honorary chairman. After this, his brothers and sons managed the company and headed the company with the same type of determination. Today, Hyundai is the world's third-biggest car company. In just 2022, they sold about 40,000,000 cars. Even though, globally, Hyundai is known for its car business. But very few people know that there are 42 companies in the Hyundai Group. For example, Hyundai Elevator, Hyundai Information Technology, and Hyundai Heavy Industries, the biggest shipbuilding company in the world. And because of Hyundai, South Korea has raced ahead of Japan to become the world's biggest shipbuilding country.

Shaping South Korea: The Influence and Impact of Hyundai

For South Korea, Hyundai is not an ordinary company. Hyundai is an institution that rebuilt the country, created thousands of jobs, and won global recognition in South Korea. And all this was started by a village boy who didn't even have basic facilities like food, education, and healthcare. But he had immense passion, vision, and most importantly, a desire for better.

 Tesla would never set up its manufacturing plant in a country where it wouldn't get permission to sell cars before setting up the plant. This was said by the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk in a similar tweet, an Indian individual asked Elon Musk to launch Tesla in India as soon as possible. Elon Musk replied straight away, that India has the highest import duty in the world compared to any other country This statement is right. In India, the CIF or Cost Insurance Freight of any vehicle is under $ 40,000 or INR 32 Lakh, in this case, a 60% import duty is levied, and if CIF exceeds $40,000 then a 100% import duty is levied and an additional amount of 10% is charged for Social Welfare named CESS.

Due to this reason, the Indian government suggested Tesla that Tesla should assemble the complete knockdown unit of its cars in India and take 30% of the parts from local manufacturers. Still, Tesla stood its stubbornness and replied that the Indian Manufacturers were incapable of assembling the sophisticated parts of the Tesla. Due to this statement, the Road and Transport Minister of India, Shri Nitin Gadkari answered in an interview with India Today that, if Tesla thinks that they can sell cars in India by manufacturing them in China, they won't be permitted for this at any cost.

Nitin Gadkari's Forceful Impact: Tesla Manufacturing in India

Still, now there is a twist in the story this battle that started in the year 2017 between Tesla and the Indian Government has come to an end. Tesla has lost the battle, according to the report published by the Financial Times. Now Tesla is interested in setting up its manufacturing plant in India. In this article, you will delineate how Tesla changed its mind and pivoted to 180 degrees! how this is an extraordinary achievement for India and the Indian government? To know about vacillating thoughts by Tesla. We have to dig deep into the roots of Tesla.

The History of Tesla: From Denial to India Entry

Tesla has been a revolutionary company since its beginning. They do not sell a car but the technology Tesla Roadster was launched in the early days of Tesla since it was a sports car it was not bought by many customers. But the launching of the Tesla Model S was an interesting event it was a luxury car that attracted people from all around the world. The launching of the Tesla Model 3 in the year 2017 was a bigger event. Because it was a mass-market electric car gradually it became the best-selling electric car in the world. 

Due to these cars, Tesla captured 50% of the EV car market in the US. Now this looks very fascinating but the ground reality is somewhat harsh. By the way, In the year 2019, 59 Million units of fossil fuels-based cars were sold around the world and only 2.1 Million units of EV cars were sold which only 3,66,000 units of Tesla Electric cars were sold in the year 2019. The biggest point to note is that 50% of the revenue of Tesla is generated in the US alone this makes it clear that Tesla does not have a major global presence and that's why Tesla wants to expand globally.

Why Tesla wants to expand Globally?

The manufacturing of Tesla cars is done in giga factories at their full capacity, These factories can produce 2 billion units of EVs around the year and Tesla has 3 such factories in the US. One each in Nevada, New York, and Texas but if look, apart from the US Tesla has two other giga factories as well one each in Germany and Shanghai, China. It is not a surprising fact that Tesla opted for Germany to set up its manufacturing plant since it is an auto hub similar to China is the largest auto hub in Asia. 

Tesla has highly benefitted from this decision Tesla had revenue of $ 40 Billion in the US and from China. Tesla generated revenue of $ 18 Billion gradually, China became the second largest market for the US where Tesla was selling 40% of EVs. Tesla was selling 50% of its cars in the US, 40,% in China, and the remaining in the rest of the world but everything isn't fruitful for Tesla in China.

Overcoming China's Dependency

Tesla was undoubtedly earning money from China but it also had to face many difficulties there what can be the biggest problem in the market? Yes, competition. China is the second-largest market for Tesla. But Chinese Manufacturers like BYD, Nio, Geely, Xpeng, etc. are giving tough competition to Tesla in the local market of China and their USP is a competitively lower price. 

As Chinese cars are much cheaper in comparison to these, the price of Tesla ranges from $ 40,000 to $ 70,000 in China and apart from this, the incentives provided by the Chinese government for pushing local industries and non-implementation of IP rights is a big problem for Tesla. In China due to these IP rights, Chinese Manufacturers can copy any product without any hesitation. They make various versions of Range Rover, Jeep Wrangler, etc. they can copy any product. Now these are the problems associated with the operation of Tesla in China.

The second problem Tesla must face in China is the quality Issue. We all know the manufacturing quality of China, especially in the early stages of any new product and if we look at the report published by Bloomberg then Tesla has to reduce its manufacturing capacity by around 56000 units due to quality issues. From December 2022 to December 2023 due to this bad quality of manufacturing, Tesla had to recall 1 million units of EVs. Apart from this, the US-China trade war is another problem for Tesla. 

“South China Morning Post” is a China-based news portal, According to a report published by this portal Chinese Government has suspended Tesla from expanding its manufacturing line in Shanghai. In the meantime, in March 2021 Reuters reported that due to suspicion of spying, The Chinese government is not allowing government servants to park their Tesla cars outside their offices due to these problems. The sales of Tesla in December 2022 were reduced by 21% on a year-on-year basis due to these problems, Tesla understood that it does not only require a major market. But a market whose relationship is good with the US and India is one of them.

Why Tesla Sees India as Its Only Viable Option?

Tesla wants to capture the South Asian Markets and as discussed above Tesla is fed up with China the second option which is the only viable option for Tesla to manufacture its cars is in India. Despite ignoring India easily in the year 2017 but now Tesla could not do this and the biggest reason for that is the work done by the Indian government in the past few years. To establish the ecosystem of Electric Vehicles in India. India might have started it late but now the Indian government is stringent regarding carbon emissions.

Schemes regarding Electric Vehicle

By the year 2030, the goal of the Indian government is to reduce carbon emissions by 45%, and by the year 2070, achieving the goal of net zero carbon emissions and EVs are going to play a major role if foreseen. That is the reason why the Indian government has launched the “Fame Scheme” which is the Faster Adaptation of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles. In this Scheme, the consumers are incentivized to buy Electric Vehicles, this policy actually works especially in cost-dominated markets like India and looks at the success of this scheme.

The Indian government has launched Fame-2 here an investment of 10,000 crores will be made under this scheme, EV infrastructure like charging stations and setting up plants for the manufacturing of batteries used in EVs. An estimated 20 Lakh passengers would be benefitted from this scheme additionally  4,00,000 charging stations would become functional. Together with this, the Indian government has asked companies like Ola and Uber to keep 40% of their vehicles as EVs in their fleet.

The semiconductor venture of Vedanta and Foxconn 

Apart from this, the Indian government is working hard to establish the EV ecosystem in India. In September 2022, a joint venture of INR 1,54,000 Crores was established with Foxconn and Vedanta For the Manufacturing of Semiconductors in India Semiconductors are highly essential. Semiconductors are used massively in EVs in comparison to IC Engine based vehicles, we can understand this fact with the example of vehicles manufactured by Ford. Ford’s focus is an IC engine-based vehicle it uses around 300 semiconductor chips but Ford Mach-E is an electric vehicle it uses around 3000 semiconductor chips. Hence setting up semiconductor manufacturing plants is highly important. 

Apart from this, Indian OEMs have even developed large component bases in India. Here fabricators, differential gears, and motors would be manufactured. Even after all this god made a joke with Elon Musk massive mines of Lithium were discovered in Jammu and Rajasthan and that's why major Indian brands like TATA Motors would be able to invest in the batteries of EVs. This shows the changing ecosystem of EVs in India Due to these reasons, Tesla is forced to set up its manufacturing plants in India. Selling and exporting cars from India the biggest credit for these achievements goes to none other than “Shri Nitin Gadkari”. This type of vision and attitude gives a direct warning to Tesla that you are heartily welcomed in India. If not, you will suffer because good electric vehicles are now being manufactured in India.

After all these initiatives We should learn from these for the future before opting for foreign-brand EVs we should establish the infrastructure and ecosystem for EVs in India. So foreign countries are forced to come to India whether by wish or not, now Tesla is going to manufacture its EVs in India.

How this will benefit India? 

The biggest benefit of the establishment of manufacturing plants in India would be the collaboration of Tesla with local manufacturers. Due to this, the local components suppliers and other companies would learn a lot. In contrast, the engineers working in these local firms would become highly successful when the people working inside Tesla would switch to some other Indian company or any other company operating in India. Their knowledge would be delivered to those companies this is very obvious. 

The biggest example of this is American Rivian, an Electric truck company. Many engineers work here that once used to work at Tesla, share their knowledge with each other With this, they can deliver superb electric trucks consumers would also be one of the most benefitted people in India. 

Tesla after introducing its vehicles in India the Indian companies or the foreign companies operating in India would be forced to introduce technological advancements. They would also be forced to bring their vehicles at cost-effective prices. That would be beneficial for the Indian consumers and market as well.

Thus, the relentless efforts of the Indian government, particularly Shri Nitin Gadkari's remarkable efforts and strategic approach influenced Tesla's decision to open a manufacturing plant in India, defying Elon Musk's previous denial.

 America is famous for its top fuel dragster, NASCAR, and IndyCar races. Car drift is a popular sport in Japan. World famous Dakar rally is organized in Saudi Arabia. Similarly, World Rally Championships are organized in various countries in Europe. Likewise, F1 and MotoGP are world-class motorsports. Races of these championships are organized in various American, European, and Asian countries. But in terms of motorsports, there is almost nothing in India.

Even though India is a vast country today, It has the 5th largest economy in the world, along with has 2nd largest road network in the world. Today, India has the 4th largest market of cars but still, no major motorsports are organized in India. Neither India is known for any of its specialized motorsport like Thailand.

Thailand has a very small economy in comparison to that of India but still, Thailand's own specialized motorsports are organized Thailand like Boat drag racing and sidecar motorcycle racing. Even though it is a developing nation still, many major international motorsports are organized in Thailand like MotoGP. A similar thing could be observed in Brazil as well which is also a developing nation, and the 12th largest economy in the world. But still, F1 racing has been organized in Brazil for a very long time. Hence the question arises When motorsports are appreciated a lot in many developing and developed countries then why it is not appreciated in India.

Discover the intriguing reasons behind the lack of motorsports racing in India. Delve into the cultural, economic, and infrastructural factors that have hindered the growth of this thrilling sport in the country, and explore the potential for its future development.

Why Motorsport Racing Hasn't Revved Up in India?

Does India not have an audience for motorsports? No, Not! According to the Survey conducted by Neilson in the year 2019. India is among the top 5 countries in terms of F1 fans. The problem in India does not lie with the people but with the government bodies, the Indian government never tried to promote motorsports. But the state governments literally murdered the motorsports in India in the year 2011 when F1 racing was introduced in India. This game of motorsports is huge for business enthusiasts not only among the ones whose interests are hampered by the government.

But it harms the Indian economy as well F1 is not the only motorsport through which huge money is earned. F1 racing is the 5th largest sport in the world. Major motorsports like F1 also attract foreigners to your country Monaco and Saudi Arabia are two major examples that attract tourists in large numbers from foreign countries and that's why we will understand this in detail in this article the reason behind the lag of motorsport in India.

Why motorsports do not exist in India? And what all we are losing because of it?

To know about all these questions, we must have prior knowledge about the racing history of India India has an ancient history of motor racing. Motor racing was started in India before its Independence, In the year 1904, the Motorsport Union of Western India Conducted the first motor race in India, this race started in Delhi and ended in Mumbai. This race had a huge track to cover these types of races conducted in India because the European auto brands wanted the Indians to be convinced of the fact. The Indian roads can be used to drive vehicles. As there were not a lot of cars at that time the European brands wanted to promote their cars in India. So that rich people in India can buy their cars with this, there was an increase in the imports of cars. In India and till the year 1930, the majority of cars were imported into India from foreign countries.

But by the end of the 1940s, many Indian companies established joint ventures with foreign car manufacturers with this, the assembling and manufacturing of cars started in India and gradually, the number of cars started increasing in India, and due to this many people in India became enthusiastic about motor racing. To fulfill their passion, many car lovers in India started using airstrips developed during World War 2 as car racing tracks. Like Juhu airstrip, Sholavaram, located in Tamil Nadu, and Barrackpore, located in Kolkata. These airstrips were converted into racing tracks these racing tracks gave birth to local motorsports clubs in India, Madras Motorsport Club MG Club, and Mumbai and Bengaluru Motor Clubs.

What is FMSCI?

But still, India did not have any governing body for controlling the motorsports in India and at that time all these clubs together formed FMSCI. Even today, all the motorsports whether minor or major events that are conducted in India are controlled by FMSCI today If we observe, FMACI does not have anything to control. on one side Malaysia and Middle Eastern countries host world-class motorsports like F1, Dakar Rally, and MotoGP. On the other side, India does not organize any major motorsports events.

Today, India only has 1 or 2 global standard-designed motor tracks and these tracks are located explicitly in Delhi and Mumbai due to this, it is very difficult or next to impossible for learners and racing enthusiasts to carve their skills in a country where racing events are not conducted. Finding a racing driver in such a country is just like looking for water in a dried well even today, motorsports are primarily linked with Narain Karthikeyan in India. But he is not even a star racing driver because still, Narain Karthikeyan has not won any major motorsports world championship this absence of motorsports in India forces the Indian youngsters to opt for cricket over racing Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, and Mahendra Singh Dhoni are among the most famous Indian cricketers. But the question arises.

In India, car racing was started many decades earlier than in the Middle Eastern countries and when people used to ride on camels in Middle Eastern countries, people were driving cars on Indian roads. But then, Middle Eastern countries left India far behind in terms of motorsports,

Why does India have such poor conditions in motorsports? 

The previous Indian governments are responsible for this FMSCI was formed in the year 1971 in India In the year 1973, it was registered as a private company. As the first governing body for auto racing and rallying in India FMSCI started organizing Racing events in India. But as we already know, motorsport is a very cash-intensive business due to the lack of funds at FMSCI. It could not promote motorsports in India to a level that was expected. 

Suppose we compare India with the Middle Eastern countries, in those countries. In that case, national motorsports governing bodies are governed by the government, and with the help of their initiatives and policies motorsports are promoted. Today, the governments of those countries provide massive funding for hosting motorsports in their countries. 

In India, FMSCI was a private company it had needed more funds from its beginning due to this reason, till the year 2004, despite motor racing becoming 100 years old in India F1 racing was never conducted. But to fill this void in 2007, discussions started in FMSCI to organize F1 racing for the first time in India, and in  2011, F1 racing was scheduled in Greater Noida. At Buddh International Circuit this track was developed to organize F1 races in India this event proved to be a commercial success in India. But with this event getting successful in India a tax dispute was observed.

Tax Disputation of Motorsport in India

In the years 2012 and 2013, two more additions to F1 racing were organized in India, and after this, F1 racing was never organized in India. The policies of the Indian government were responsible for this till the year 2015, the Indian government did not recognize motorsports as any sport. The Indian government did not consider motorsports as any sport when F1 racing was organized in India for the first time in the year 2011. A tax dispute was observed between the State Government of Uttar Pradesh, Jaypee Group, and the Indian organizers the Government of Uttar Pradesh at that time said that F1 is not considered a sport. It is considered an entertainment activity in India due to this, According to Indian law, It comes under the heavy tax slab of 60%. After this, the owner of Buddh International Circuit, Jaypee Group F1 racing was organized. In this circuit, the government and the Jaypee group tried to solve this problem. However the negotiations did not turn out to be successful the organizers had to pay 60% taxes for the next three years and in the year 2015, the 4th edition of the Grand Prix was supposed to be organized in India. 

But still, the tax disputes were not solved Due to this, F1 racing finally canceled its International contract with the Jaypee Group F1 made an exit from India and never came back and the government of India was responsible for this contract cancellation. The son of the Former FMSCI president, Vicky Chandok, and India's racing driver and MTV host, Karan Chandok said that F1 could never be organized in India until the Indian government funds motorsports. As told earlier, the allotment of funds is very rare because, until 2015, the Indian government did not recognize F1 as any sport. Due to this organizers were forced to pay heavy taxes one more major question arises here, 

Racing is considered to be a sport in the whole world why the Indian government does not recognize racing as a sport? 

Look, there is a simple reason behind this If the Indian government has considered it to be a sport. The Indian government had to support racing as well as any other sports since motorsports are very expensive. This could have laid a burden on the Indian government now, even though it could be a little expensive for the Indian government to consider motorsports as a sport in India at that time. But this has only negatively impacted the Indian government. Let me tell you how according to Karan Chandok the F1 racing event was organized in Istanbul, Turkey in the year 2007. Only 11 people were standing in the grandstand But when F1 was organized for the first time in India in the year 2011, at that time 1,10,000 people were present to watch the F1 racing. 

Will Motorsport be as huge as IPL in India?

This makes it clear that India has a huge motorsports fanbase. However, due to the policies of the Indian government, we could not commercialize the Indian motorsports fanbase. If the Indian government had done it today, Motorsports would have been as successful as the Indian Premier League the Indian government earned INR 200 Crores through the IPL in the year 2010. But today, only the IPL contributes around $ 300 Million to the Indian economy every year apart from this.

Tourism from Motorsport in India

If India hosts international motorsports it would captivate many tourists to India from all over Asia India is a lot cheaper than Malaysia and the Middle Eastern countries. While many tourist destinations are located in India these could be explored by the tourists. This will boost the Indian tourism industry like UAE For example in the financial year 2021-22, Motorsports contributed $ 4.8 Million to the tourism industry of the UAE In the year 2022, The size of the Global motorsports industry had a worth of $ 5.11 Billion And according to many market research firms. By the year 2027, it would increase to $ 12.9 Billion due to this reason, many countries are investing heavily in motorsports, and we again take the example of Saudi Arabia.

Current status of Motorsport in India

In January 2023, the government of Saudi Arabia Offered $20 Million to Liberty Media Corporation who is the current owner of the F1 group to buy the whole F1 group but Liberty Media rejected this offer. Now, If we look at the stance of the Indian government today it seems very positive regarding motorsports Motorsports were provided the status of sports in the year 2015 and FMSCI was included in the sports ministry-backed National Sports Federation of India Former racing driver Akbar Ebrahim who is the present president of FMSCI Believes that this would highly benefit the motorsports in India.

Firstly, conducting any type of championship whether cart, bike, or car racing would become very smooth. Second and most important, the participation of students from various schools and colleges would increase. The students who will be taking part in motorsports would get additional benefits in their schools and Indian colleges would also try to promote motorsports apart from this, if any local federation imports equipment from any foreign country to promote motorsports in India. Subsidies would be provided to them it could be also observed that various state governments are trying to promote motorsports together with the central government of India and taking steps in this direction, the Formula E event was conducted in Hyderabad, Telangana and very soon, MotoGP racing would be organized in India.

Conclusion

But at present, India is at an early stage in terms of motorsports, gradually, the motorsport market is becoming highly competitive in India. That's why we need to take bigger steps now this is not only limited to the Indian motorsports market. This will leave a highly positive impact on the Indian Automobile Industry as well because today Indian auto manufacturers are manufacturing vehicles with global standards and it would become very easy for them to bring their capability and talent in front of the whole world with the motorsports. The Indian auto manufacturers would be able to promote their vehicles easily.

 Many manufacturers have turned to electrically powered engines, but is this possible for all automakers? For a company like JCB, which specializes in the manufacture of engines for heavy machinery, electric engines are just not good enough. This is because electric engines are incapable of producing the kind of power these heavy machines require. 

Replacing diesel engines with batteries in heavy-lifting equipment will amount to sacrificing power for less environmentally harmful emissions. And quite frankly, other brands can afford to make that sacrifice, but not JCB. Certain activities, like construction and agriculture, require machines with power, and that’s a fact. So JCB acknowledged the need for a peculiar solution to their dilemma. They realized they just had to make environmentally friendly engines by some means, but they couldn't afford to sacrifice the power of their engines.

JCB Embraces Hydrogen Fuel: A Game-Changer for Construction Machinery

To suffice these conditions, in 2020, JCB started working towards developing hydrogen-powered engines with similar power potentials as diesel engines but this time it was environmentally friendly. 

Video Courtesy: JCB Youtube

Now, barely a few years down the line, even though JCB has yet to commence the mass production of hydrogen engines, they have made immense progress. For JCB, hydrogen engines are the future, and they are championing this course. 

Reasons behind opting for Hydrogen Engine

In this article, we will take a look at JCB's hydrogen engine. We will also examine why JCB has opted for hydrogen as the fuel that powers its engine of the future, the benefits of hydrogen over diesel engines, and how much impact this invention will have on drivers.

Electric engines can power small machines that do not require immense amounts of energy. Advancements in technology, like the manufacture of electric cars, have proven this. But what we are yet to see are electrically powered heavy trucks, and that’s simply because heavy machines like the type manufactured by JCB have higher energy needs—needs that battery power won’t be sufficient to meet. To provide this amount of energy via the EV route, these machines must be fitted with giant-sized batteries. The physical space required to carry these batteries and the additional weight this would require make it impracticable.

 It seems like everything is going green these days but there's one mode of transportation that seems to be clinging to the traditional "Aviation", fuel-loving ways and while commercial aviation has made strides through smarter design and cleaner engines, many of those gains have been nullified by more air traffic. The challenge is enormous and the industry is large it will take decades to convert, surprisingly the good news is that we have a solution as early as three years out that people can get into and start moving towards zero emission. And it turns out that the solution could be all around us Hydrogen.

This article will be visualizing the promising future of hydrogen as a fuel source through the lens of pioneering scientists and visionary entrepreneurs. Unveiling the untapped potential of hydrogen as a sustainable and clean energy solution, this compelling narrative delves into the latest breakthroughs and advancements in hydrogen technology. From cutting-edge research to innovative applications, explore the trailblazers who are driving the hydrogen revolution forward and reshaping the energy landscape. 

Learn about the bold visions, groundbreaking discoveries, and real-world success stories that are propelling hydrogen into the forefront of the energy transition. With compelling insights and compelling stories, this captivating journey unveils how hydrogen is transforming from a long-touted fuel of the future into a present-day reality with boundless possibilities for a more sustainable world.

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. And so if we have to use something, it would be great. The only product of the chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen is water.

Hydrogen-Powered Aircraft

Looking at the fundamentals of what it would require to take an aircraft up in the air of significant size, over a significant distance, and commercially relevant. Hydrogen Fuel Cells are the best approach from the cost of fuel, the efficiency of utilization of the fuel, and the mitigation of the climate effects.

Jet Engine Fuel vs. Hydrogen Fuel

So the beauty about hydrogen in general is that the energy density of hydrogen as a fuel is three times better than jet fuel. So we see in general that any size of aircraft going for any distance that jet fuel aircraft can go over time. It will just take a significant amount of time to get the industry over, but this technology can scale to all sizes of aircraft we use in commercial service. 

ZeroAvia's Hydrogen Aviation

ZeroAvia is a hydrogen-electric aircraft developer operating in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Serial cleantech entrepreneur Val Miftakhov started ZeroAvia following his previous success in the EV charging industry. The company is focused on developing zero-emission aviation solutions by utilizing hydrogen fuel cells as a means of powering electric aircraft. ZeroAvia's goal is to provide sustainable aviation options that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to a more environmentally friendly aviation industry. The company has been actively involved in the development of hydrogen-electric powertrains for regional aircraft, to eventually achieve zero-emission flights for commercial aviation.

How does Hydrogen Airplane Work?

ZeroAvia uses a hydrogen fuel cell to produce electricity to turn a propeller. Unlike a traditional engine which uses combustion to create energy, a fuel cell generates electricity through an electrochemical reaction. In this case, hydrogen and oxygen are combined to generate electricity, heat, and water. ZeroAvia has flown a six-seater aircraft on a hydrogen fuel cell; a world first. Now they're aiming bigger, at 20 seats. That's technically commercial. One side of the aircraft, the left side, will replace the engine with power plants. 

A normal engine on the right side and part of this is, in aviation, you want to ramp up risk profile in meaningful steps. So if calamity happens there will be a second engine as a backup. But even in the first flight test campaign, it has been planned to demonstrate the operation of this aircraft purely on zero emission power on the left side engine. Once it is taken off, we can switch over to completely zero-emission power. Hydrogen is used throughout all sections of a flight, which maximizes the efficiency of the entire operation reduces the weight, and provides for best the sort of mission capabilities, payload, and range.

Building power plants and fuel cells is one thing, creating a whole new infrastructure for supplying hydrogen is something entirely different.

Building the Infrastructure of Hydrogen Fuel Cell

In automotive a big part of the reason why hydrogen did not take off is that the fueling infrastructure needs to be so distributed. For let's say, the United States, you have a hundred thousand fueling stations. Compare that with aviation where 95% or more of traffic in the United States is concentrated in 100 locations. So that's a three-order magnitude difference which makes building out of the infrastructure much simpler. It's much larger, much more concentrated stations, but they're much fewer in quantity. Calling it simpler might be underselling the challenge of distributing hydrogen, which, unlike other fuels that can be easily transported in liquid form, is usually found instead in a gaseous state.

Transportation of Hydrogen

One of the main concerns is the transportation of hydrogen, How do you get the hydrogen from point A to point B? We cannot have pipelines for moving hydrogen around. We do not have all the specialized trucks to move them around and so we got thinking, we need a solution that can be a low capital expenditure solution and that's what the companies are working on.

Modular tank system for the domestic turboprop

John-Paul Clarke is the co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Universal Hydrogen, a startup that has designed a modular tank system for the domestic turboprop market. Like ZeroAvia, it allows for retrofitting planes already in use. Each module has two capsules and so what we do is load it into the aircraft as if it were cargo, strap it down, connect it to the aircraft, close the loading door, and that would be it. When you get to your destination, you'd unload it, put it back in a truck, and send it back to the production site to get refills. We needed to come up with something that could both fit in containers and fit in the aircraft, not require increases in the maximum takeoff weight of the aircraft. 

This compromise is one of the biggest hurdles that may prevent the widespread adoption of hydrogen. You're gonna have to take out some seats because the energy density of hydrogen is less than jet fuel and you can't store it in the wings practically, so you're gonna have to take away some space in the fuselage. In the ultra-fine margins of aviation, removing 10 to 20% of your seats is a tough ask, but that hasn't deterred startups like ZeroAvia or Universal Hydrogen.

Maintenance cost of Fuel Cell System

The maintenance cost of a fuel cell motor system goes down and it goes down significantly because motors and fuel cells have much fewer moving parts than a gas turbine engine. And so the wear and tear are much lower, so the time between overhauls is longer. And so when you put all that together,  numbers indicate that the CASM, (Cost per Available Seat Mile), actually goes down slightly or is at the worst equivalent to what you have now. So what you'll have is a smaller cabin or a smaller number of seats. However, the cost for each of those seats to operate is the same or better than the hydrogen. 

Like ZeroAvia, Universal Hydrogen is also working on engines, successfully testing the two-megawatt iron bird that will allow them to retrofit planes carrying up to 55 passengers. ZeroAvia is aiming for their first commercial hydrogen electric flight between London and Rotterdam with their 19-seater by around 2024. But much like the range anxiety that has plagued some battery-powered electric vehicles on land, hydrogen fuel cells are also fairly limited. At this point, they still can't power a common 100-passenger jet.

University of Cranfield into Hydrogen Airplane

Beyond fuel cells, however, there is another hope for our lightest, most abundant element: Burning it. An expert in gas turbine combustion, Professor Bobby Sethi leads research at Cranfield University in the U.K. According to him, the first eureka moment, is when we see steam in the exhaust because we are thinking to ourselves, "Huh? We're burning something here when you're producing absolutely NOx CO2." Built on a former RAF base, the college runs multiple aeronautical programs. But what Prof. Bobby is focused on is burning hydrogen, as cleanly as possible. So they tested how we can conceive some hydrogen combustion technologies that can be integrated into the next-generation aircraft engines, which will deliver not only zero CO2 emissions but also ultra-low NOx emissions. 

NOx or nitrogen oxides are a significant source of air pollution globally. They're the dirty particulates that cause smog in cities, usually spat out by diesel cars, scooters, and buses.

Why Hydrogen is better for NOx emission?

Hydrogen is characterized by much wider flammability limits, which means we can go to much leaner combustion. As a result, we can burn at much lower flame temperatures and that's better for reducing NOx emissions. Going leaner means burning fuel with an excess of air in the engine. Using something like gasoline, lean burn emits far fewer hydrocarbons. Doing it with hydrogen also delivers cleaner emissions. While NOx is a pollutant, hydrogen combustion produces up to 90% less nitrogen oxide than kerosene.

Challenges of Water Vapor Emission from Hydrogen Aircraft

So while burning hydrogen isn't technically as clean as using it inside a fuel cell, it's still a huge improvement over jet fuel. Unfortunately, like any radically new idea, there are other potential byproducts of the process that aren't fully yet understood. NOx is one of the main emissions we need to consider, but the aviation community is also asking themselves and the community in general, what about all the water vapor emissions? 

Some studies have shown, albeit(although) there's still a large degree of uncertainty about it, that contrails and cirrus clouds that may be induced from contrails could contribute to global warming about four times the amount than CO2 does. We know that if we are going to be burning hydrogen, we are going to produce a much larger amount of water vapor emissions. And if we are going to be producing a much larger amount of water vapor emissions, then the propensity for contrail formation is also going to increase.

Despite all these challenges, hydrogen is being taken seriously by the broader industry. Companies like Universal Hydrogen and ZeroAvia are gaining the attention of investors looking for viable and eventually profitable solutions.

Airbus 380 Bets on Hydrogen to Deliver Zero-Emission Jets

Industry giant Airbus wants to introduce a hydrogen-powered passenger aircraft by 2035. Recently announced Airbus to use the A380 to retrofit a gas-guzzling Superjumbo with a hydrogen-burning engine. The modified aircraft will add a fifth engine, adapted for hydrogen, and will be mounted on the rear fuselage. The A380 is the largest passenger aircraft in existence, so it offers plenty of room to store 400 kilograms of hydrogen.

A Video Demonstration of Airbus 380 ZEROe on Hydrogen Technology

The company's designs for a blended wing concept to store extra hydrogen also offer a glimpse of our flying future. Apart from the complex engineering challenges faced by airplane manufacturers, there are also difficulties in the production of hydrogen itself.

Nowadays, most of the hydrogen used in fuel is derived by splitting it off from molecules of natural gas. But that requires a good deal of energy and also produces carbon dioxide.

To make green hydrogen, the electricity used to run the electrolyzer must come from a renewable resource, which is currently a lot more expensive. As with any new technology, however, initial costs are daunting, but time may be the best remedy here.

Economics of Hydrogen Fuel Production

If you look at the economics of hydrogen fuel production, for example, versus fossil fuels, for instance, the cost of hydrogen is all based on capital expense and very little operating expense. So it's sort of similar to solar power. You put solar panels out there, and they produce power for 20-25 years. The operating expense is relatively low. What that means is that as scale grows, as we've seen with solar panels, the cost of output drops dramatically.

So the first phase is not about the most efficient aircraft. It's not about the aircraft that will deliver the lowest NOx emissions. It's about demonstrating that we can carry hydrogen safely on board, we can burn it safely on board and can be used to fly a passenger aircraft. The key thing is that we don't try to put everything in the first generation or we're just gonna delay the entry into service. 

If there are some questions on the margin, they're all in the sort of business model and market adoption realm. It is very hard to create a technological argument or impossible to create a technological argument that says, "Well, it's not gonna work." It is going to work.

Conclusion

To summarize, the inevitability of hydrogen-fueled planes is becoming increasingly clear. With the urgent need to decarbonize the aviation industry and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, hydrogen presents a promising alternative to traditional fossil fuels. As advancements in hydrogen production, storage, and utilization continue to progress, hydrogen-fueled planes are poised to become a sustainable and viable solution for aviation and we eagerly anticipate the aviation industry taking flight "On the Wings of Hydrogen" shortly

 Whether it is Indycar racing, NASCAR, or Top Fuel Dragster normal petrol can not be used to drive all the cars used in these racing events. To drive these cars such fuel is needed, and the base ingredient found in every alcoholic beverage is ethanol. This drinkable ethanol is used in these super-fast cars because it is produced from grains and sugarcane. From which hangover drinks are made and it is also highly flammable like petrol nowadays.

Ethanol is being discussed everywhere because it can also be used to drive normal passenger vehicles like race cars, and ethanol is considered to be a fuel that can reduce the dependency on countries like India, which imports crude oil in huge quantities. Middle Eastern countries have surplus crude oil and it is important because their dependency on India for crude oil imports is increasing yearly.

What is Flex Engine?

During the year 2022-23, the demand for crude oil in India increased by 73% and a bill of $ 90 Billion was to be paid by India. All this is happening because the number of car owners in India is increasing every year. That's the reason Shri Nitin Gadkari said in an interview,” In a span of about 6 months, Every petrol engine in India whether it is a two-wheeler, three-wheeler, and four-wheeler will consist of a flex engine”. To elaborate on what Shri Nitin Gadkari said the flex-fuel engines about which Shri Nitin Gadkari mentioned are also Internal Combustion Engines just like any normal car or motorcycle which are visible on Indian roads. 

But the Flex-fuel engines differ in such a way that these can use flex-fuel for their operation which means a fuel that has both petrol and ethanol mixed in some proportion In India, currently, all the vehicles run on E10 petrol which means fuel that has 10% ethanol And 90% of petrol and you must have heard about E10 petrol earlier. But the Indian government wants that In the next couple of years, E20 fuel should be used in all vehicles Which will consist of 20% ethanol and 80% petrol E20 petrol is now available in some selected firms in some states of India. It is being claimed that flex-fuel will cause less air pollution and the dependency of India on foreign crude oil would reduce which is right in some sense. 

What are the benefits of using Flex Fuel?

But some more facts should not be ignored when we are already promoting electric vehicles, hydrogen, and hybrid vehicles so much what is the need for this flex fuel? And how would it be beneficial? And how flex fuel can again increase the prices of vehicles in India and how the environment would be impacted after the heavy usage of ethanol.

History of Ethanol Flex-Fuel Engine

First of all, let's understand why ethanol is getting promoted before that let's understand, the history of vehicles driven by ethanol cars driven by flex-fuel was introduced about 100 years ago. Ford Model T, which was developed between the years 1908 and 1927, was capable of moving with ethanol-blended petrol and this car consisted of an adjustable jetting carburetor which made it possible for the car to drive with ethanol-blended petrol. Apart from Ford, other car manufacturers also started doing the same but for almost half a century petrol was very cheap. Hence the automotive manufacturers did not find it economical to use ethanol-blended petrol But due to the occurrence of the oil crisis in the year 1973 there was a shortage of petrol and after this many countries started realizing that oil dependency was not good for any country's economy. Since then the concept of flex-fuel has started getting promoted but still, it has not come into the limelight because till now, even after the shortage, Petrol was available in surplus quantity and till now Global Warming has been a myth. 

Since the beginning of the 21st century countries started realizing the importance of flex-fuel and global warming was the major reason behind this which has now become the reality. In August 2018, American Coalition for Ethanol published a research paper According to which E85 Flex fuel, Emits about 50% fewer greenhouse gases as compared to petrol this E85 flex fuel, consists of 85% ethanol and 15% petrol due to this countries like Brazil, Canada, Sweden, and the U.S. produced vehicles that can run on E85 flex fuel or 100% ethanol very long ago. While the U.S. was the only country that produces ethanol the most the U.S. does not use the ethanol produced in the automobile sector this is done by Brazil.

Brazil might be the 2nd largest producer of flex-fuel in the whole world but Brazil is the largest consumer of flex-fuel in the automotive industry. In the year 2018, 27 million cars were in Brazil, which means more than 73% of the total cars in Brazil were driving via ethanol-blended petrol Now the biggest question arises, Why only Brazil? That is because, When there was a fuel crisis all over the globe Brazil too was affected by the fuel crisis. But Brazil had an advantage that was only present in Brazil and that was Sugarcane. Sugarcane is such a crop from which Ethanol can be extracted since sugarcane is composed of starch and sugar.

How Ethanol is Produced?

If we look into the basics of this process and try to understand this process from the basics then this process includes, harvesting the sugar and firstly extraction of juice from it The sugarcane juice is then fermented. In the process of Fermentation, CO2 gas is emitted from this sugarcane juice In a very huge number and after this, the obtained product is sent for distillation finally, ethanol is developed. Ethanol can be extracted from other grains as well like corn and America produces a major portion of ethanol from corn. Now Brazil obtained an advantage from sugarcane because it is the world's biggest producer of sugarcane. Brazil has been producing sugarcane in huge quantities since the 16th century. To manufacture sugar from it and export it as well. 

Why is the Indian Government Pushing Flex Fuel?

This advantage of the heavy production of sugarcane is also present in India Like Brazil, India also produces sugarcane in huge quantities. While today, India is ranked 2nd in the whole world for the production of sugarcane. 

But till now, the major portion of the sugarcane harvested in India has been used for the production of sugar. Nowadays, India is producing a very huge quantity of sugar a major portion of the sugar produced is kept unused. India has been producing surplus sugar from the year 2010 which means we are producing sugar more than what is required since sugar is available in surplus quantity in India. Due to this reason, the Indian government wants to benefit from this and the Indian government is promoting flex fuel so much The Indian government has set a target for the year 2025 To make E20 fuel compulsory for all vehicles. In December 2022, SIAM, (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) addressing an event organized by SIAM the road and Transport Minister of India Shri Nitin Gadkari said that every year the prices of crude oil fluctuate Which causes a lot of trouble and that's why we must move towards 100% flex-fuel vehicles. That is a clear indication that the Indian government is very interested in this flex fuel, especially Shri Nitin Gadkari.

TVS Apache RTR 200 FI E100

The TVS Apache RTR 200 FI E100: A High-Performance Motorcycle with Ethanol Fuel Capability.

The TVS Apache RTR 200 FI E100 is a motorcycle that runs on Ethanol and has the following specifications:

• Fuel Type: Ethanol

• Engine: 197.75cc, single-cylinder, 4-stroke, oil-cooled Si 4 valve

• Power output: 21 bhp @ 8,500 rpm

• Torque: 18.1 Nm @ 7,000 rpm

• Fuel system: Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) with twin-spray-twin-port system

• Fuel tank capacity: 12 liters

• Brakes: 300mm petal disc with ABS (front), 240mm petal disc (rear)

• Suspension: Telescopic fork (front), mono-shock (rear)

• Tires: 90/90-17 (front), 130/70-17 (rear)

• Transmission: 5-speed gearbox

• Kerb Weight: 153 kg

• Top speed: 129 km/h

• Price: INR 1.2 lakh as of February 2023.

Flex Fuel Vehicle showcased in 2023 AutoExpo India

In October 2022, Shri Nitin Gadkari Launched India's first flex-fuel stock hybrid car, the Corolla Altis, this car was introduced in India as a pilot project vehicle and TATA MOTORS flaunted their GTI Engines in the Auto Expo 2023, these engines can also support flex fuel which is E20 which is by the new Indian norms and also Maruti showcased its all-new the TVS Apache RTR bike which runs on Ethanol Flex Fuel. Bajaj also launched its bike Bajaj Pulsar NS160 Ethanol Flex Fuel.

Now we have understood the two major benefits of flex-fuel.

1. The first is the reduction in carbon emissions. 

2. The second and crucial advantage is self-reliance on fuel production.

3. The third benefit would be from the forex reserves In the financial year 2022, India spent $ 119 Billion To purchase crude oil India used the major portion of its forex reserves to import oil and petroleum products. But ethanol blending can reduce this spending and we have already observed its proof when the target of E10 flex fuel was achieved by India. Then, in August 2022, Shri Narendra Modi said that In the past 6-7 years, India has saved more than $ 6 Billion of its forex reserves, and after the full usage of E20 fuel more than $ 4 Billion in forex reserves would be saved annually and the energy demand in India is going to shoot up very rapidly in the coming years.

That's why it is important to become self-reliant in the energy sector 

4. The Fourth and last benefit of Ethanol production is employment. As we have just discussed, Ethanol can be extracted from crops like sugarcane. This would increase the earnings of the farmers and the rural economy would also grow. Because for the production of Ethanol, plants would be set up in rural areas and workers would be needed for the proper operation of these plants.

Negative impacts of Flex Fuel

But there also exist some negative impacts in the production of ethanol from sugarcane The first and the biggest negative impact is the water crisis According to a report published by the Niti Aayog To produce a liter of ethanol from sugarcane 2860 liters of water are needed. Apart from this, In July 2020, a research paper was published according to which, to complete the target of E20 ethanol-blended petrol set for the year 2025, 1320 Million tons of sugarcane would be needed. Which will require additional 19 Million Hectares of Land and an additional 348 Billion cubic meters of water would be required. If you look into this very closely then these are huge numbers to increase the production of ethanol the production of sugarcane has to be increased and ultimately high sugarcane production could become the reason for water pollution. Because the fertilizers and slit emitted from the sugarcane farms and sugar mills would pollute the freshwater ecosystem.

Today, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and the Mesoamerican Reef in Brazil Pollutants are getting dumped which is polluting the coral ecosystem. By the way, India is very behind in the production of ethanol even though, India produces a surplus amount of sugarcane the major portion of the sugarcane produced is consumed as sugar and today India is standing 13th in the world in the production of ethanol. But as soon as the production of ethanol would increase the third bigger problem would also arise which is food security.

Food Security due to ethanol extraction

India produces 84% of its ethanol from sugarcane 10% from rice And the rest from corn In December 2022, in India, The retail inflation of rice was 10.5% and that of corn was 17.5% But when the dependency on transportation on ethanol would increase India has to use a major portion of its crops in the production of ethanol which will eventually lead to more inflation. However, the Indian government is trying to produce ethanol from various raw materials Like Parali, sugar, wheat, potatoes, etc. But the success would only be known in the coming years. 

There is one more major problem with ethanol which is not linked to our food but is linked to your pocket. Today, a liter of ethanol costs INR 65, and INR 97-98 for a liter of petrol. Hence, ethanol is about INR 32-33 cheaper than petrol and this is a huge difference. But the per molecular energy of ethanol is less than that of petrol therefore to obtain the same amount of energy about 1.6 Litres of ethanol is to be burned. While 1 Litre of petrol can produce exactly the same amount of energy and if we observe in this way, Then, the price difference between ethanol and petrol would be very less and your pocket would not be impacted highly. It could be slightly expensive but another thing that can make a hole in your pockets is the development of flex-fuel engines by the automotive Manufacturers for the E20 petrol. 

The major changes the automotive Manufacturers have to make in the engine are a change in the material of the engine to protect it from corrosion by ethanol and a change in the injection system of the vehicles Due to this, the cars which are already very expensive. Due to heavy taxes and the BS6 upgradations Will become even more expensive. An extra load would also be imposed on the automotive Manufacturers because they are already investing huge capital in the Research and Development of electric and hybrid vehicles and they have to invest highly in the production of upgraded BS6 engines. In the end, all these expenses would be extracted from the consumers.

What are the Indian Models of Ethanol Flex Fuel

Currently, there are a few Flex Fuel vehicles available in India, including the TVS Apache RTR 200 FI E100 and some models from Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors. As more car manufacturers enter the Flex Fuel market and the government continues to provide incentives for clean energy adoption, Flex Fuel technology will likely become more widespread in India in the coming years.

Conclusion

By now you must have understood that Flex fuel has both advantages and serious disadvantages. But the benefit is mainly focused on the reduction of the dependency on fossil fuels because at the end of the day, emissions would not stop from the Tailpipe and as mentioned previously the mileage of any vehicle drops due to ethanol because more amount of ethanol is to be consumed by the engine, to produce the same amount of power and due to this, the tailpipe emissions would not reduce in huge numbers. Because in the end, you are burning more flex-fuel in comparison to petrol. 

Do let me know your thoughts about this flex fuel, According to you what things could improve due to this flex fuel? And in what ways the flex fuel would be beneficial to Indians?