Japan’s government wants all new cars sold in Japan should be able to run on a blend of at least 10% ethanol and 90% petrol, starting in 2010, according to an AP report.
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The report cited remarks by Takeshi Sekiya, an official at the Environment Ministry.
“The main goal is to counter global warming,” Sekiya reportedly said. “Adopting the new technology is not that difficult.”
Japan currently allows ethanol mixtures of up to 3 percent at the nation’s pumps, but in practice “almost no cars” run on the fuel, Sekiya said.
To encourage the market, the ministry will ramp up production of ethanol fuel on the southern island of Miyako, where a plentiful supply of sugar cane will be converted into fuel for the island’s estimated 20,000 cars in the next three years.
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By GlobalDataThe goal is to have all cars on the nation’s roads capable of running on the new fuel by 2030, the report said.
The AP report notes that obstacles remain to a smooth switchover, starting with the fact that ethanol fuel is more expensive than gasoline. Japan’s goal of a 10% ethanol blend also falls short of the standards being met by US automakers, which are already producing cars that can run on 85% ethanol blends.
The trial run on Miyako will help bring down production costs so the technology can be spread nationwide, Sekiya added.
Meanwhile, in the US, automakers have said they will double production of flexible-fuel vehicles by 2010.
The leaders of GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chrysler Group urged oil companies and Congress to promote the production of ethanol and biofuel and increase the number of service stations offering the fuels.
“Our hope is that with this commitment, fuel providers will have even more incentive to produce ethanol and other biofuels and install pumps to distribute them,” the automakers wrote.
The letter was signed by Rick Wagoner, GM’s chairman and chief executive; Bill Ford, Ford’s chairman and chief executive; and Tom LaSorda, Chrysler Group’s president and chief executive.
The Big Three automakers have produced five million flexible fuel vehicles, which can run on gasoline and fuel blends of up to 85 percent ethanol, known as E85. They are expected to produce an additional one million of the vehicles this year. Their commitment would lead to two million annually by 2010.
