Just as Bajaj Auto gears up to launch LPG bikes in the market, TVS Motors is also preparing to launch LPG and CNG versions on its entry-level versions, confident that higher efficiency will make the bikes an attractive proposition for customers.
?We are looking at launching both CNG and LPG bikes in the market, depending on the availability of the alternate fuel in various regions of the country,? TVS Motors senior vice-president R Chandramouli told FE.
Chandramouli said the alternate fuel bikes, that could also be run on petrol, would be offered in the lower engine-capacity motorcycles as here the customers wanted more efficiency.
?We plan to launch in them in the lower-cc bikes as customers here want the high mileage and are not much critical of power and other factors,? he said. Bajaj Auto has also chosen its entry-level ?Platina? 100-cc model for the LPG variant and has even given them to customers in cities like Sangli and Ahmedabad for testing. Bajaj?s bikes would sport a 4-litre LPG cylinder apart from having a 10-litre tank for petrol, the LPG itself giving a mileage of 200 kms at one go.
Chandramouli said the bikes would be as much as 30% efficient than the current petrol-run bikes in the category. ?If you spend Rs 100 for a journey, the bi-fuel bike would just require Rs 70,? he said.
However, he refused to specify by when the bi-fuel bikes would hit the roads, just saying that ?a lot of work is going on in the project currently.? According to component vendors, pricing is a crucial factor in the development of such bikes.