Chasing Brazil's Biofuel Dream: Can India Go 100% Ethanol?

Ford famously claimed that it would only build one version of its Model T car and that “any customer could have their car painted any color as long as it was black” because the paint was cheaper and more durable. While these words have become one of the most famous quotes in automotive history, the industrialist proved to be far more flexible – even ahead of his time – on another front. Raised on a farm, Ford had a deep distrust of big oil companies, including John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. For this reason, the story goes, he designed the early Model T, which was introduced in 1908, with an adjustable engine that could run on gasoline (gasoline in India), ethanol, or a mixture of the two. Indeed, the very first automobile Ford built, an 1896 four-wheeler, ran entirely on ethanol.