The company will launch an electric three-wheeler in the last quarter of 2019

Piaggio Vehicles will invest about ₹300 crore in next three years in India on product and technology development, which includes the key transition to the Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) by the end of the year.

The company, a leader in the diesel three-wheeler segment, will also launch an electric three-wheeler in the last quarter of 2019.

Diego Graffi, CEO and MD, Piaggio Vehicles, said the bulk of the investment would be towards diesel and alternative fuels such as CNG and LPG with the priority being converting their range of two-wheelers and commercial vehicles to comply with BS-VI norms. “I think diesel will continue to be the most convenient solution in Bharat-VI as well and hence we have decided to invest heavily in diesel notwithstanding the cost hike that is naturally coming,” he said.

Automobile manufacturers are racing against time to meet the deadline of April 1, 2020 to transition to BS-VI norms. However, a recent NITI Aayog proposal has asked auto manufacturers to make a complete transition to electric mobility in the three-wheeler segment by 2023 and two-wheeler segment by 2025.

Mr. Graffi said that only a small part of the ₹300 crore would be invested in electric mobility, but it was a space Piaggio was looking at quite carefully and seriously. “The future of mobility is electric, be it in India or across the world. I don’t think it is a matter of technology but a matter of entire ecosystem that needs to be created to render electric mobility to be a winning solution for customer needs,” he said.

Battery swap technology

The electric three-wheeler, that Piaggio will be launching, will be modelled along a battery swap technology. “We decided to adopt that solution because we thought that from a customer perspective it can at least remove anxiety of waiting for five hours to recharge before restarting operations. You go to the swapping station, you leave the discharged battery and you take a charged one,” he said. Piaggio will be teaming up with Bengaluru-based Sun Mobility and are in talks with other partners before launching the product.

Mr. Graffi said that the three-wheeler would not come with a battery attached and would be priced along similar lines as CNG three-wheelers.

On Wednesday, the company launched a new line of three-wheelers called Ape City+. They will be available in four fuel options —LPG, CNG, petrol and diesel — and priced between ₹1.74 lakh and ₹1.9 lakh.