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Stellantis plans to develop a car with an alcohol-powered engine in 2025, with the Fiat and Jeep brands leading the project.
100% alcohol-powered car? It is no secret that sustainability has gained prominence in several areas of society, including the automotive industry. In this context, Stellantis Group, which manages 13 brands, announced that it is developing a alcohol-powered car or hybrid version, which will combine ethanol with electricity. This initiative highlights the group's commitment to cleaner and more efficient energy alternatives with the arrival of a new alcohol-powered engine.
When will Stellantis' 100% alcohol-powered car hit the market?
The idea is that cars with the new alcohol engine will be on the market in the second half of next year. Stellantis' strategic plan, which was named Bio-Hybrid, should have a new alcohol-powered car with Fiat and Jeep as pioneers in the group.
It is worth mentioning that the first brand to start converting the ethanol car in Brazil it was Fiat, still in the 1970s. At the time, the model that presented the innovative technology was the now extinct Fiat 147.
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The group's idea is to present a new 1.3 turbo alcohol engine to the market, which already exists in the Flex option. However, the 100% alcohol-powered car should have a similar range, with a lower cost and fewer pollutant emissions.
The expectation is that this will be a long-term plan for the Stellantis group. However, the country's lack of structure still generates fear of what consumer acceptance would be like in relation to this alcohol-powered car. However, last year, the idea returned to the table, when the Federal Government and the Brazilian Automotive Manufacturers Association (Anfavea) followed the plan to revive the popular car segment.
Drivers can join the Stellantis idea
First, the objective was to manufacture a “green car”, which would be powered by a new alcohol engine. In this way, the plan ended up covering only flex-fuel cars, which presented higher-than-expected prices. In this way, it was agreed to encourage the use of ethanol instead of fossil fuels.
A study carried out by the consultancy datagro pointed out that, in Brazil, only 30% of drivers opt for ethanol when refueling their vehicle. In this way, the Brazilian government plans to increase the percentage and started to encourage the increase in the supply of renewable fuels.
Even so, there are people who are not very excited about the idea of the return of a 100% alcohol-powered car. In an interview with the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, José Maurício Andreta Jr., president of the National Federation of Motor Vehicle Distribution (Fenabrave), states that perhaps the most interesting path for resellers is the hybrid, instead of this new diesel engine. alcohol.
Understand Fenabrave's vision in relation to alcohol-powered cars
In Andreta Jr's view, the path is the flex hybrid, not a car powered by pure alcohol, which would require the development of a new propellant, with new calibrations, among other items.
The president's speech confirms the realities far from the country's main capitals, such as the cities located in the interior of the Northeast and North regions, where the price differences between gasoline and ethanol are minimal, which could make it difficult to justify the development of this new car 100% from alcohol.
It is also important to highlight that the average price of ethanol increased by 6,42% at gas stations in the country in the last two months. Thus, gasoline is more advantageous in 18 states for fueling flex-fuel vehicles, while alcohol is more advantageous in 8 states across the country and in the Federal District.
Congratulations to Stelants, it was time to have a 100 percent alcohol engine.
The problem with this is alcohol.
Sugar mill owners, off-season, ours were always in the headlines. Alcohol was very complicated.
But I think you're too young to remember.
The situation only normalized in the early 2000s, with the arrival of flex-fuel cars. But alcohol used to vary more than gasoline. There were times of the year when alcohol-powered cars didn't even run.
Technology today is completely different. The chances of it working are very good. The problem is the oil lobby that is firing machine guns at every initiative that goes against the use of gasoline. But I believe that there is no turning back from this.
On the one hand, there is the oil lobby.
On the other side, there is the Agro lobby.
Let's wait
The biggest problem with alcohol is its price, which at the pumps rarely reaches 70% of the price of gasoline. This is because alcohol is in short supply because it is mixed with gasoline. When there is a shortage of alcohol, the price goes up. It is the law of supply and demand. Who would want to sell alcohol at the price of alcohol if it can be sold at the price of gasoline when mixed? Not to mention that a good part of our alcohol is exported at a price in dollars. Need I say more?
The alcohol that is added to gasoline is anhydrous, it is not cheap, and it cannot be sold separately at the gas station, so this is not the option of the gas station owner, now the issue of export is really a problem.
Do you really believe that 70%? This calculation comes from when gasoline only had 15% alcohol in its composition, today we are at 30%> lol
Moving towards 35% alcohol in gasoline… This is Brazil my friend!!!!!!
Only distributors sell alcohol at the price of gasoline after adding it to the mix
There really was a lack of adequate supply in some periods, but gasoline also had a period of scarcity, and the issue of alcohol not being viable in some states today takes into account the consumption of flex-fuel cars. A 100% alcohol car has much lower fuel consumption. I remember I had an alcohol-powered Voyage, with a carburetor, that did 12 km per liter on the highway and 10 in the city.
The alcohol-powered car launched in 1970 by Fiat and later by other car manufacturers was already flex fuel and nobody knew it… Analyze whether the gasoline injector was needed for cold starts… And if you mixed gasoline with alcohol the car would run normally, that is, it was already flex fuel…
The alcohol-powered car could even run on gasoline, but because it works at a higher compression rate, as is the case with the ethanol-powered engine, it ended up suffering from pre-ignition problems and higher idle speeds.
I had a 147 Fiat 1981, an alcohol-powered car here in Curitiba. In the winter it was a pain in the ass, I had to inject gasoline, heat the carburetor with my mother's hair dryer, and say ten "Our Fathers" and ten "Hail Marys" before starting it. If it didn't start the first time, it was over, not even if I pushed it. Despite everything, I was happy and didn't even know it, because when you're young everything is a party. 😄
The important thing is to be happy! regardless of whether you are young or old!!!!
But it won't be a 147 powered by alcohol. It will be a modern car that starts right away and works right away even on ethanol.
Today this problem does not exist. There is technology that makes the car start on alcohol even in the snow.
I imagine a 147 with electronic injection
I would easily do 20km per liter.
Boy! I had a 1993 Gol 1.8 alcohol engine, it was easy to get.
I also had a Fiat Prêmio that started first time, even in the winter in Porto Alegre/RS, a long time ago.
If alcohol is less polluting and according to research the engine wears out less, it is worth the government investing in this fuel, encouraging its consumption!
Already investing. Both the federal government (CIDE) and the state governments (ICMS) provide billions in tax exemptions.
Is there a different tax rate for alcohol? I didn't know it still exists, I remember it was in the pro-alcohol program.