TVS Electric Scooter Launch Early Next Year

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TVS Motor Company will launch its upcoming electric scooter by March 2018, and the company is planning to roll out electric and hybrid vehicles by the end of the year. TVS Motor Company chairman Venu Srinivasan told reporters on the sidelines of the company's annual general meeting recently. The company's first hybrid two-wheeler, which will be a combination of an internal combustion petrol engine as well as an electric motor, is expected to be launched by December 2017. TVS has been working on hybrid and electric vehicles for some years now.

With the government committed to pushing for all-electric vehicles by 2030, the electric two-wheeler and automobile space is expected to see rapid growth and development. In just a few years from now, a fifth of the two-wheeler market is expected to switch to electric technology, Srinivasan said. But there are challenges, he added, pointing out the price of Lithium-ion batteries and lack of charging infrastructure.

"Lithium-ion batteries are still a challenge because of the availability. But the falling cost of batteries will favour adoption of hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles," Srinivasan said. He indicated that TVS is working on developing batteries with technologies which would result in cheaper batteries than lithium-ion.

TVS is already working on a new electric scooter, and from the latest statements it seems more likely that the full-sized scooter will likely be a hybrid model as well. The upcoming scooter will be TVS Motor Company's first product in the electric/hybrid space and will share some components and styling with the existing scooter range. The scooter is still in the prototype stage, but looks like the project is well on track for a launch by the end of the year, or early next year. Expect to see a few of TVS' hybrid/electric concepts at the 2018 Auto Expo.