TVS Motor Company has released India's first ethanol-powered motorbike under Apache RTR. The 200cc Fi E100 is engineered to provide efficient combustion to produce similar power as compared to the petrol-run motorbike.
The initiative was taken with the aim of reducing air pollution and helping the government bring down crude imports. TVS Motor Company has not started mass production of the vehicle but the prototypes have cost about Rs 1.20 lakh.
TVS has sent some units to Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh to check the response of the people.
Venu Srinivasan, the chairman of TVS Motor Company, told Economic Times that they are trying to follow the revolution to bring green and sustainable mobility solutions. He added that there have been multiple advancements in the fields of electrification and hybridisation by using alternative fuels to run the machines.
The chairman claimed that the ethanol-run motorbikes will be of significant importance to the customers as the conversion of fuel can be easily adapted by the public than the infrastructure requirements of the electric vehicles. The motorbike will provide long-term positive impacts on the environment without compromising on performance.
The industry is currently trembling with low sales due to the economic slowdown in the country. The government's mandate to electrify all three-wheelers and two-wheelers below 150cc by 2025 has pushed the giants to try different alternatives to reduce pollution.
