Latest news with #IndianRoadmaster
Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Hindustan Times
India achieves 20% ethanol blending target 5 years ahead of schedule: ISMA
India has achieved its target of 20 per cent ethanol blending with petrol five years ahead of schedule, the Indian Sugar & Bio-energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA) said. In a statement, ISMA said that this achievement represents dramatic growth from the modest 1.5 per cent blending rate when the program began in 2014. It also claimed that the ethanol blending program has delivered substantial economic and environmental benefits. PTI has reported that ethanol production surged from 38 crore litres in 2014 to 661 crore litres blended as of June 2025, while generating 698 lakh tonnes in carbon dioxide emission reductions. The program has provided significant financial benefits to India's agricultural sector, with farmers receiving ₹1.18 lakh crore and distilleries earning ₹1.96 lakh crore over the period, claimed ISMA. The initiative has also helped India save ₹1.36 lakh crore in foreign exchange costs. "This achievement is a monumental leap for India's energy independence and rural prosperity," said Deepak Ballani, Director General of ISMA, while also adding, "The government's unwavering policy direction and visionary leadership have not only made this national success possible five years ahead of schedule but have also set a powerful precedent for our collective future in green energy." Also check these Cars Find more Cars UPCOMING Indian FTR 1200 1203 cc 1203 cc ₹ 16.30 - 16.50 Lakhs Alert Me When Launched Indian Scout Bobber 1133 cc 1133 cc 25 kmpl 25 kmpl ₹ 17.17 Lakhs Compare View Offers Indian Roadmaster 1890 cc 1890 cc 20 kmpl 20 kmpl ₹ 43.49 Lakhs Compare View Offers UPCOMING Indian Chief Classic 1811.0 cc 1811.0 cc 20.0 kmpl 20.0 kmpl ₹ 21.30 Lakhs Alert Me When Launched Indian 2025 Challenger 1768 cc 1768 cc 18 kmpl 18 kmpl ₹ 36.12 Lakhs Compare View Offers Yamaha MT-15 V2 155.0 cc 155.0 cc 56.87 kmpl 56.87 kmpl ₹ 1.70 Lakhs Compare View Offers The sugar industry has played a central role in India's ethanol economy, supplying biofuel derived from sugarcane juice, B-heavy molasses and other agricultural by-products, ISMA said. The early achievement of the 20 per cent blending target, originally set for 2030, demonstrates India's commitment to reducing dependence on fossil fuel imports while supporting rural economic development, the industry association added. Ethanol is blended with petrol to reduce the pollutant-emitting properties of the fossil fuel. Keeping pace with this development, automakers in the Indian automobile market too have been making engines that are compatible with the E20 petrol, which has 20 per cent ethanol blended. Get insights into Upcoming Cars In India, Electric Vehicles, Upcoming Bikes in India and cutting-edge technology transforming the automotive landscape. First Published Date:
Hindustan Times
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Hindustan Times
Nearly 27,000 people died in national highway road accidents during Jan-June 2025, says Gadkari
As many as 26,770 people died in road accidents on the national highways across India in the first six months (January-June) of 2025. Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, on Wednesday has informed the Rajya Sabha that as many as 52,609 fatal accidents took place in 2024 on the national highways across the country. The union minister informed the Parliament that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has installed the Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) on high traffic density national highways and national expressways such as Delhi-Meerut Expressway, Trans-Haryana, Eastern Peripheral Expressway, Delhi Mumbai Expressway, etc. "ATMS has provisions for various electronic enforcement devices which help in speedy identification of incidents on highway stretches and effectively monitor highways, thereby improving the response time of the on-site assistance," he said. Also check these Vehicles Find more Cars Harley-Davidson Road Glide 1923 cc 1923 cc 16.66 kmpl 16.66 kmpl ₹ 42.30 Lakhs Compare View Offers Harley-Davidson Road Glide [2024] 1868.0 cc 1868.0 cc 16.3 kmpl 16.3 kmpl ₹ 41.79 Lakhs Compare View Offers Indian Roadmaster 1890 cc 1890 cc 20 kmpl 20 kmpl ₹ 43.49 - 46.77 Lakhs Compare View Offers Indian Chieftain Limited 1890 cc 1890 cc 20.0 kmpl 20.0 kmpl ₹ 34.26 - 34.40 Lakhs Compare View Offers Indian Pursuit Dark Horse 1768 cc 1768 cc 14 kmpl 14 kmpl ₹ 43.19 Lakhs Compare View Offers Honda Gold Wing 1833 cc 1833 cc 14 kmpl 14 kmpl ₹ 39.20 - 39.90 Lakhs Compare View Offers Gadkari also said that in new projects on the high-density and high-speed corridors of NHAI, installation of ATMS is generally a part of the project. Further, ATMS is also implemented as a standalone project in already constructed important corridors, he said. Responding to a separate question, the union minister said that road safety audit has been conducted for 112,561 km of national highways during the last three years. Road accidents are a major public health concern in India, with more than 450,000 reported accidents responsible for over 150,000 deaths in 2022. Every year, the country witnesses lakhs of road accidents, which result in the deaths of many people, while leaving a larger number of people wounded and often critically handicapped as well. Two-wheelers are often the most involved vehicles in fatal road accidents. Some of the key reasons behind the road accidents on national highways and national expressways include overspeeding, riding two-wheelers without helmets, etc. Pedestrians not using the proper underpasses or designated places for crossing the roads is also a major reason behind many road accidents. Get insights into Upcoming Cars In India, Electric Vehicles, Upcoming Bikes in India and cutting-edge technology transforming the automotive landscape. First Published Date:
Forbes
22-06-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
Scooter Cannonball Run Pushes Riders and Scooters To The Limit
Wide open spaces are not the usual purview of scooters, but the Scooter Cannonball riders will be ... More faced with long runs on very rural roads. Note: The author rides a Vespa GTS 300 but is not competing in this year's event. Check back in 2027, however. Driving from the picturesque coastal town of Seaside, Oregon, to South Padre Island off the coast of Texas is an undertaking no matter how you look at it. Google Maps estimates that the most direct route would take 37 hours of driving time to cover the 2,500 miles, so plan on at least three full days behind the wheel. Covering the same miles on a motorcycle would be more arduous as you're out in the elements, but on a bike like the top-spec $32,000 Indian Roadmaster PowerPlus Limited that I currently have in for review, certainly not too much of a hardship. But Sunday morning, several hundred brave riders will set out to complete the same journey on... motor scooters. Yes, scooters. Welcome to the 2025 Scooter Cannonball. Scooters—think Vespas and such—are designed to be efficient and affordable urban transportation, and they remain effective (and often stylish) tools for navigating crowded cities. Popular in Europe for decades and widely used as primary transportation in many Asian countries, scooters continue to be a somewhat fringe segment in the car-and-truck (and motorcycle) obsessed United States, where they are seen more as urban fun machines rather than dedicated modes of transport. However, this is beginning to change slowly in some American cities as their popularity grows, partly due to their economical operating costs, ease of parking and ability to cut through traffic. Gather a group of wheeled vehicles, and of course, there will be some racing involved. Every other year since 2004, brave riders have been journeying coast to coast (or border to border) in the Scooter Cannonball, a time/speed/distance competition that pits riders and machines against each other, nature, the clock, and a grueling route much longer than what Google Maps suggests, as it follows back roads, county byways, and even dirt paths. The riders have one week to complete the journey, although many won't succeed. The 2025 Scooter Cannonball route follows back roads and rural highways from Oregon to the Texas ... More coast. This map shows the most direct route if driven by car. Inspired by the original 'Cannonball Run' dreamed up by auto journalist Brock Yates in the 1970s, that experiment resulted in a still-entertaining 1981 movie led by Burt Reynolds. Yates named the race in honor of Erwin 'Cannonball' Baker, who repeated the coast-to-coast journey over 100 times by car and motorcycle beginning in the early 1900s, long before highways - or even paved roads - were common. Today, the Scooter Cannonball is made possible by the continued technical refinement of today's more modern machines (and much improved roads), but these small motorbikes are still pushed to the breaking point to complete the journey. The Scooter Cannonball was first run by nine riders in 2004. By 2023, 180 riders participated in the Scooter Cannonball, which took place in late June and spanned over 3,000 miles from San Clemente, California, to Hilton Head, South Carolina. This year, there are more than 250 entrants. Most hail from the United States, but scooterists from Canada, Mexico, the U.K., and even Romania are also entered. And yes, they do have to pay for the privilege of trying to cover around 400 miles per day on machines that typically don't see more than forty miles of riding per day. Or per week. Some of the boost in the event's popularity can likely be attributed to documentaries about the Scooter Cannonball, including The Big Scoot on Amazon Prime and It's Not A Race: The Scooter Cannonball Run (watch below). Scooters must be street legal, have wheels ten inches in size or less and have single-cylinder engines. They must also be 'scooters' with leg shields and step-through frames. Some modifications are allowed but every scooter must undergo technical and safety checks, and displacement is capped at 300cc or the new breed of 'mega' or 'maxi' scooters, such as the Suzuki Burgman 400 and Honda Silverwing, would likely dominate. However, the engine size cap was raised from 278cc to 300 cc this year to allow some popular Yamaha, Honda, and other 300cc-class machines to enter. Scooters as small as 50cc, along with a separate class for the new range of 125cc 'mini motos,' such as the Honda Grom, also compete and are given handicaps. Many riders choose 150cc models since they are a good compromise in terms of speed, comfort, carrying capacity and reliability. Ronald Sarayudej rode this Vespa 150 scooter in the 2023 Scooter Cannonball and managed to finish ... More well in his rookie outing. Modern scooters are robust and technically sophisticated. They feature liquid cooled engines, fuel injection, disc brakes (some with ABS), sophisticated suspension, automatic transmissions, and top speeds approaching 80 miles an hour in the 300cc class. Those capabilities may make it seem like entering such a machine would make the Scooter Cannonball easy to complete, but keep in mind even those models are primarily designed for low-speed, short-duration rides in urban centers, not hours of wide-open throttle on American highways while fully loaded (or overloaded) with gear and extra fuel. Before the race, the riders - who often go by colorful nicknames like 'BootScootinBenny,' 'Zwappy' and so on - are assigned numbers for tracking their progress. Riders must generally adhere to a set route and hit checkpoints within a specified time period, as well as consider riding to optional 'bonus' locations to earn extra points, albeit at the expense of time. While some riders have a support vehicle, most do not and must deal with any mechanical problems on their own. At night, the riders stay in hotels that have been reserved in advance. And yes, entrants can bring a passenger. The small wheels on a scooter make for a highway riding experience that requires full-time concentration, and riders must keep constant tabs on mechanical issues, route directions and the larger vehicles around them. Three riders from the Portland area competed in the Scooter Cannonball in 2023 for the first time and they all finished. For 2025, only one rider of the three, Virginia 'Wild Cherry' Cherry, now living in Alabama, is making a return to the event. She will be riding a 'modern' 250cc Vespa. You can track her progress and all of the other riders on this map. Riders will leave Seaside, Oregon, on a staggered start beginning early Sunday the 22nd. They have a week to arrive at South Padre Island, Texas. Thank you for reading. Subscribing to allows you to leave comments and supports contributors like myself. You can also follow me on Facebook and LinkedIn.
