Road min eyes CAFE-3 sops for biofuel vehicles

Amid an ongoing tussle over emission norms in the world’s third-largest auto sector, the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) is likely to ask the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) to provide incentives to vehicles running on biofuels such as ethanol as well as flex or blended fuels, according to two people aware of the development.

- Subhash Narayan & Manas Palkhare

Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency or CAFE-3 norms are a cap on the average carbon dioxide emissions of a carmaker's entire fleet—currently set at 113 grams per kilometre.

MoRTH is likely to push for ‘biogenic derogation’ to be included in the third iteration of the norms, to be enforced from April 2027 at a lower cap of 91.7 g/km. Biogenic derogation refers to concessions given to emissions from flex fuels, ethanol, methanol, and other alternative biofuels. “We are examining attaching differential weights to vehicles based on different fuel combinations, including electric, bio fuels and also on domestic content under the Cafe 3 norms proposed,” said the first person quoted above.

Under current CAFE 2 norms, carmakers get benefits for selling cleaner technologies such as