Toyota Introduces Flex-fuel Corollas

The Japanese company’s Brazilian subsidiary reported that the two Corolla variants will outperform the existing gasoline engine powered Toyota Corolla. The first of the two Corollas is the Corolla Flex which the company hopes to have an initial monthly sale of 2,500 units. The second Corolla model is the Corolla Fielder Flex. For the Fielder Flex, Toyota aims for an initial monthly sale of 750 units. These vehicles are equipped with an engine similar in principle and construction to that of a gasoline engine.

The only difference is that several parts of the engines which run on ethanol need to be fortified still. This is because ethanol is more corrosive than gasoline and to combat this corrosive nature of the alternative fuel, different parts such as fuel lines, valves, cylinder walls, and other parts which comes in contact with the fuel and its emission needs to be reinforced. Other parts such as Airaid cold air intake systems are not affected directly by the corrosive nature of the fuel.

The two Corolla variants according to the company are the first for-market vehicles that can run on pure ethanol that Toyota produces. While there are already many flex-fuel vehicles in the market, the majority of them are not designed to run on pure ethanol. Most of them are configured to run on E10 or E85. The number (10 and 85) pertains to the percentage of bio-ethanol on the fuel. For example, an E85 fuel is 85 percent bio-ethanol and 15 percent gasoline.

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