Hero MotoCorp, India’s biggest two-wheeler maker by volume, will launch its maiden flex-fuel motorcycle capable of running on 100% ethanol on June 3.

While Hero MotoCorp has yet to reveal the name of the motorcycle that will be launched on June 3, flex-fuel versions of Hero HF Deluxe and Splendor have already got regulatory approval from authorities.

This will be the first such motorcycle in the country that can run on 100% ethanol. The existing flex-fuel motorcycles—Suzuki Gixxer SF 250 and Honda CB 300F—run on E85.

“We support the government’s call to rapidly accelerate the introduction of flex fuel vehicles,” Hero MotoCorp CEO Harshavardhan Chitale told Business Today in an interview.

“In flex fuels, the industry is quite ready to launch products. As soon as fuel starts becoming available, the industry can introduce flex-fuel vehicles pretty much in the same month,” Chitale added.

Following the West Asia crisis, there is an impetus by the government to oil marketing companies to make flex-fuel available at petrol pumps. “It’s a fairly advanced stage that the industry is in,” he said.

Flex fuel engines are capable of dynamically measuring the ethanol mix in the tank to operate efficiently.

Increasing the biofuel content in the energy mix is a sure-shot way to make India Atmanirbhar, Chitale said. “For India’s energy resilience and move towards clean mobility, we need to look at multiple sources, electric vehicles alone may not solve it because they have their own limitations in terms of supply chain resilience and dependence on one country,” he explained.

The CEO of India’s largest two-wheeler manufacturer said the country’s ability to ramp up flex fuel vehicles is far higher than its ability to penetrate with electric mobility. “For EVs, we need to solve many other ecosystem challenges, whereas with ethanol, the industry can move very rapidly to flex fuel vehicles. That is very green from cradle to grave point of view. And from an energy independence point of view, totally Atmanirbhar,” he said.

Published on: May 27, 2026 8:24 PM IST