India is making consistent efforts to empower its transportation with an electric drivetrain. So much so that the automakers are taking note and that is why many of them have already announced their upcoming EV portfolio in India.
Joining the growing list is Italian two and three-wheeler maker Piaggio Vehicles, which has now announced that the company will be coming up with a fully electric three wheeler in India by the middle of 2019.
This is the company that initiated its operations in India in 1999 with a lineup named ¡®Ape¡¯. Ring any bells?
Piaggio Ape Calessino model is seen at the Piaggio factory in Pontedera.?(Image: Reuters)
A top official of the firm confirmed on Wednesday that the automaker wants to be ready in advance for the upcoming BS-VI emission norms. For this, it also seeks to upgrade most of its existing line up of products, mostly including small commercial vehicles (less than one-tonne load) both in cargo and passenger segments.
"India is one country which is investing more on electric mobility. We are preparing for this right in advance ...demand at the moment is not very big but we expect it to increase quite fast so we plan to introduce our fully electric three-wheeler by the middle of this year," Piaggio Vehicles MD & CEO Diego Graffi told reporters.
Piaggio plans to assemble the electric three-wheelers within the country, with some of the components like lithium-ion battery cells being procured from external suppliers. Meanwhile, the engine and battery management system will be produced completely within India.
Pope Benedict walks past a pair of Piaggio Ape vehicles (Image: Reuters)
For now, the Piaggio MD has confirmed that the firm will be sticking to the all-electric vehicles for India, avoiding any focus on hybrid vehicles which are currently under operations in Europe.
Even if it is not for Piaggio, electric motors are finding an increased adoption in the three-wheelers segment in India. Recently, Mahindra Electric Mobility Ltd. and SmartE promised a rollout of 1000 electric three-wheelers for the Delhi-NCR region. As per SmartE¡¯s plans, the final count is supposed to reach 10,000 by 2020.
(With inputs from PTI)