Government’s pilot project to promote hybrid vehicles delayed by 3-5 months

The implementation of the government-backed pilot project to run battery-operated vehicles (including hybrid passenger cars) is now facing a clear delay of at least 3-5 months.

The plan, wherein various carmakers including Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), TVS Motor Company, Tata Motors and a few others are looking to supply battery-run vehicles to the government for a pilot run across 10 cities in India, was originally expected to get clearance from the Central government in Q1, FY2014-15. The delay in its implementation is due to various state governments failing to submit their reports in time to the central government.

A source in Maruti Suzuki, who is aware of the Swift Hybrid Range Extender project, clarified that “we were expecting to get clarity on the timeline of supplying the Swift Hybrids to the government under the pilot plan in Q1 of this financial year. But the central government is said to have not received the reports from various state governments, causing the delay behind the decision to run the said pilot project across 10 cities. Secondly, there is no ruling government in Delhi (which is expected to see the implementation first, before any other city in India) as the national capital is currently under president’s rule.”

The company official, however, did not disclose any details about the homologation and ARAI certification of the hybrid model.

When Autocar Professional first broke the story about Maruti Suzuki expecting to supply the lithium ion battery-operated Swift Hybrid (also christened Swift Range Extender by the company) cars to the government on March 26 this year, our sources had informed that the homologation process of this vehicle was nearing completion and the project team was expecting ARAI certification shortly (on the model).

Maruti Suzuki had displayed the Swift Range Extender at the Auto Expo in February along with M&M (which displayed its Reva and Maxximo EVs), Tata Motors (hybrids built on Magic and Ace platforms), TVS Motor Co (full-electric three wheelers) and others.

According to Maruti Suzuki, the Swift Range Extender runs on an inline three-cylinder, 658cc petrol engine (borrowed from Suzuki, Japan) along with a front-axle mounted 55KW electric motor, which is powered by a 5kWh lithium ion battery. The battery, as per the company released details, takes around 90 minutes to get fully charged.

Officials associated with this development had claimed that the production-ready model has been made in India with major electric gear (such as the electric motor, battery and other electrical components) imported from Japan and other countries.

The Swift hybrid model is around 130kg heavier than its conventional petrol-engined counterpart currently sold in India, which weighs between 960-990kg (kerb weight). The company also claims that its internal test reports have shown that the Swift Range Extender can offer a combined fuel efficiency of up to 48.2km per litre, which includes a 25.5km run powered by the fully-charged battery.

“We are expecting to get some clarity on the project either by the end of Q2 or in Q3,” added the company official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Also read: Maruti to supply Swift hybrids to the government http://bit.ly/1nWG616