Yamaha BioFuel Powered Motorcycles & Scooters To Be Launched In India Soon: All You Need To Know

Much has been spoken about electric vehicles and how electricity is the fuel of the future. However, it comes with its own share of problems. This includes range anxiety, charging infrastructure, or rather the lack of it, and finally battery-related woes. Lithium-ion batteries are becoming problematic too.

With all of this in mind, there are a few brands that are becoming increasingly reluctant to launch electric vehicles in countries like India. Yamaha is turning out to be one of those brands. In the past, Yamaha had discussed the launch of electric scooters and motorcycles in India. In fact, Yamaha had announced a timeline too.

Yamaha was all set to launch 10 electric two-wheelers by 2024 in certain markets. Some of these were also expected to arrive in India. Now though, Yamaha might end up launching just one electric two-wheeler in India while focusing more on vehicles driven by bio-fuels.

The concept of biofuels or synthetic fuels has been around for a while now. The biggest advantage of biofuels and synthetic fuels is that existing petrol-fueled vehicles can easily be modified to adapt to these fuels. With minimal expenses in terms of R&D, manufacturers can switch a particular product or an entire product line up to become bio-fuel driven.

Biofuels would combust just like petrol and therefore offer a power and torque output that is almost identical to that of a petrol-powered motorcycle or scooter. TVS Motor Company had launched the Apache RTR 200 Fi E100 motorcycle that was capable of running on ethanol or a blend of ethanol and petrol.

Yamaha too has already launched a few motorcycles in the Brazilian market that are powered by a blend of ethanol and petrol. So the technology exists and it is only a matter of implementing it in India and other Asian countries.

Yoshihiro Hidaka, President of Yamaha Motor was quoted by Nikkei Asia as saying, "Though we might have to tune some of the specifications, the current internal combustion engine will work as it is, even when the tank is filled with biofuel."

It really seems like a great alternative to petrol given that there isn't a big drop in performance or efficiency while there is a huge drop in CO2 emissions. Yoshihiro Hidaka further said, "We have heard that the Indian government is enthusiastic about biofuels that can cut CO2 emissions."

The Indian government is indeed enthusiastic about biofuels and a few pilot projects have come up across the country. However, the availability of biofuels is nowhere close to the level of availability of petrol and diesel. This, however, is a challenge that can easily be overcome as the same petrol pumps can be used to dispense biofuels as well.

Furthermore, Hidaka said, "CO2 may be treated as a bad thing, but I believe the engine itself is not. We have to seek a solution for internal combustion engines that do not emit CO2." This is coming from the president of Yamaha Motor and that pretty much clarifies the direction in which the company is heading in terms of green mobility.

Thoughts On Yamaha Launching BioFuel-Powered Motorcycles In India & Asia

The thought of riding a proper internal combustion-driven motorcycle while emitting a significantly lower amount of CO2 is thrilling to enthusiasts who were not too happy with the world heading towards electric mobility. Going by the words of Yoshihiro Hidaka, we might see bio-fueled Yamaha motorcycles and scooters sooner than later.