Two and three-wheel manufacturer TVS Motor Company Ltd., is planning to roll out electric and hybrid vehicles in the next few months, said a top official.
“While the hybrid vehicle will be rolled out by the end of 2017, the electric vehicle by February or March 2018,” said Venu Srinivasan, chairman, TVS Motor. “We have been working on an electric bike for over six years now.”
Briefing reporters at TVS Motor Annual General Meeting, he pointed out that the main obstacle for the electric vehicle was the life of lead acid battery.
“As lithium prices are becoming more and more economically feasible, I think that is the only option we would like to consider. The cost of lithium batteries is quite high. However, it is quick to charge and the battery life is as long as the life of the vehicle,” he said adding “Lithium is still a challenge because of its availability. However, people are working on batteries that are even cheaper than the lithium ones. We will also look at exporting electric vehicles.” At the same time, TVS Motor will also focus on hybridisation.
By December 2017, TVS Motor would be coming out with a hybrid vehicle that could run on both petrol and electric battery.
TVS Motor had started manufacturing and exporting sub-500 cc bikes for BMW’s global market. During the second half of the year, TVS will roll out a 310cc vehicle on the BMW platform.
Net sales rise
TVS Motor reported 6.8% increase in its standalone net profit for the first quarter ended June 30, 2017 at ₹129.47 crore ₹121.25 crore in the corresponding period last year. The above profits have been arrived after making provision of ₹16.50 crore towards additional discount offered to dealers to compensate the loss on pre-GST inventory held by them.
Total income of rose 19% to ₹3,800 crore from ₹3,184 crore.
During the period under review, the company invested ₹50 crore in TVS Credit Services Ltd. and ₹10 crore in Sundaram Auto Components.
