M&M’s hybrid fare in 18 months

NEW DELHI: This would certainly accelerate the government’s recent move to incentivise indigenous development of hybrid vehicles.

UV major Mahindra & Mahindra says it would be ready with its indigenously developed hybrid Scorpio and a hybrid LCV over the next 18 months.

These vehicles would classify as ‘mild hybrids’, meaning, a vehicle that runs on petrol/diesel at high speeds but switches to an electric battery while idling and being driven at low speeds.

Says Arun Jaura, vice-president (R&D and product development), M&M: “We have already done a lot of work on developing the first hybrid vehicle and it should be launched over the next 18 months.

We are first bringing a mild hybrid, where the fuel engine is automatically cut off when the vehicle stops at a red light.

The thermal energy generated by regenerative braking is pumped back into the vehicle battery. When the vehicle starts again, this stored energy is used to push the vehicle at low speeds.

This technology enables efficient use of thermal energy while eliminating the need to buy an additional traction battery.”

Jaura said the mild hybrid would offer at least 10% higher fuel efficiency over the regular Scorpio and M&M plans to bring hybrids across UVs as well as light commercial vehicles.

Also in the pipeline are other forms of hybrids, including a ‘full hybrid’ which will eventually be offered across M&M’s entire product range.

The full hybrid could offer as much as 50% higher fuel efficiency compared to a regular vehicle.

M&M’s move comes even as the government is preparing a notification that could offer as much as 50% subsidy for institutional buyers of such vehicles.

At present, buyers of battery-powered vehicles are provided with 33% subsidy (which means 33% of the cost of such a vehicle is borne by the government) but no monetary incentive is available for development and sale of hybrids in the country.