Tata Indica, Ace to come in electric versions

Hopping on to the e-car bandwagon, India’s own Tata Motors has brought out two electric vehicles. The electric Indica and the electric Ace, which are in fact in the prototype stage, will see commercial production in 2009.

Tata introduced its new generation Indica Vista in the Indian market last week.

The Tata Indica and Ace electric versions are said to incorporate imported lithium batteries co-developed by a Norwegian alternative fuel company and Tata Motors UK’s research facility. The cars are expected to be launched first in Norway as the company believes that Norway has the necessary infrastructure in place to run electric cars. Tata has has said that it would take another two years to launch the electric Indica in India.

The electric Indica will come powered by two battery packs, which on a full charge will run for eight hours and travel between 175-200 km. A related report has said that the company has plans to develop five prototypes of the electric vehicles on the Indica platform. It has been pointed out that an electric vehicle cannot be an ideal solution for the Indian market because of unreliable power infrastructure. So it might really take a while before India gets to see Tatas’ electric vehicles on its roads.

Tata Motors is also said to be doing research on a hydrogen-CNG blend and ethanol-gasoline blend. Expert reports said that while the hydrogen blend in CNG applicable to LCV 407 would be low on emissions, the ethanol-petrol blend is being considered for offerings like Indica MPFi and other Indica family vehicles. It has been pointed out that the company already runs around 125 Star buses on bio-diesel-gasoline blend in Pune for its staff.