Swedish commercial vehicles manufacturer, Scania plans to unveil green buses based on non-conventional fuel such as bio-gas and ethanol in India by April this year.
“We have been running ethanol-driven buses in Stockholm... we have plans to showcase this technology to the Indian market by April this year,” Scania Commercial Vehicles India Director (Pre-sales and Marketing) Krister Thulin said at the 12th Auto Expo here.
The company is in talks with Government for promoting commercial sale of such buses and arrangement of ethanol-blended fuel for these, Anders Grundstr, Managing Director, Scania India and Senior Vice-President of Scania Group said.
He said usage of such fuel will help in protecting the environment and in promoting green technology.
Currently in India, oil marketing companies using at least 5 per cent ethanol-blended fuel.
He further said the company is also in talks with an oil marketing company for supply of 95 per cent ethanol-blended fuel to run green buses.
Eco-friendly fuel can be generated from waste and agri products, which is more sustainable than conventional energy sources and less polluting, Thulin said.
Scania India, which sells premium mining trucks in collaboration with Larsen & Toubro and City-bus, has a manufacturing plant in Bangalore.
Since its inception in 2007, the company has invested about Rs 300 crore in the country. The assembly line has the capacity to produce 2,500 trucks and 1,000 buses a year.
With the introduction of new products, the company also plans to export these to neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka from next year. Currently the company has a market share of 18 per cent in the premium mining truck segment, which has a size of around 1,300 units a year.
The company also announced the launch of its fleet management solution through which operators can keep a track on their commercial vehicles on real-time basis.
“India is a very important market for us. Our trucks have been an integral part of the industrial establishment in India for a long time now. With the launch of our fleet management service and the V8 series of engines, we are all set to widen our footprint in growing markets across the country,” Grundstromer said.