NEW DELHI, JULY 22: TVS-Suzuki Ltd is working on a scooter that would run on cooking gas or liquified petroleum gas (LPG). The first prototype of this scooter will be ready by September this year, Venu Srinivasan, chairman and managing director, TVS-Suzuki Limited told The Indian Express here today.The company plans to launch the LPG scooter in by around September 2000. But before that, ``the Motor Vehicles Act will have to be amended in order to permit use of LPG as an automotive fuel,'' Srinivasan added.The TVS scooter will have a 1.6 kg LPG cylinder, that should be around the same capacity as the tank in a scooter. ``However, the running cost will come down by around 60 per cent with the use of LPG,'' the TVS-Suzuki chief said.Unlike CNG, which requires a retrofit kit, a switch to LPG is rather inexpensive. The ex-factory price of a two-wheeler, according to Srinivasan, will go up by only around Rs 1,000, or by approximately 2 to 3 per cent of the cost of the vehicle. ``The owner of an LPG-driven scooter can recover this additional cost in five months,'' Srinivasan said.TVS-Suzuki is developing the LPG scooter with the help of the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai. However, a proper supply chain for LPG cylinders will have to be developed before the company launches this scooter. Moreover, the Motor Vehicles Act will have to be amended for such an exercise to be legal.The LPG cylinder fits snugly under the seat. In TVS Spectra, there is provision for the motorist to place the helmet under the seat. In an LPG scooter, this space in TVS Spectra will be used up by the cylinder.According to the TVS-Suzuki chief, even though the government is promoting the use of compressed natural gas (CNG), it is unfeasible for two-wheelers. ``The CNG cylinder is too bulky for a scooter. CNG is more feasible for cars and commercial vehicles,'' he said.In the future, two-wheeler manufacturers, according to Srinivasan, will be increasingly working on hybrids. ``TVS-Suzuki, on its own, also has the expertise to develop such a scooter. But, at the moment, we are concentrating on the LPG scooter,'' he said.After a decade, according to Srinivasan, two-stroke scooters will be back in the market. ``But these two-stroke two-wheelers will be far more advanced, and will be fitted with fuel-injectors and an electronic engine management system,'' he added.In the case of four-stroke engines, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide emission goes up drastically. In future, it will become increasingly important to control carbon dioxide emissions, since it leads to global warming. In order to do that, manufacturers will have to switch to hybrid scooters and two-stroke engine scooters.Hybrid scooters, according to Srinivasan, are viable only if the battery gets charged on its own. In case the battery fails, the scooter can run on petrol. The scooter is started on petrol, but once it gains speed, the engine starts running on the battery. The battery gets charged by the alternator. ``Some manufacturers in Japan are already working on hybrid scooters,'' he said.With the India 2000 norms for two-wheelers coming into effect on April next, India will have the most stringent emission norms in the world for two-wheelers. At present, the emission norms in Taiwan are more stringent than those in India.
