Mahindra & Mahindra, TVS Suzuki, Fiat India and Godrej group, among others, have displayed such vehicles which run on alternative fuels like compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and electric battery.

Among two-wheelers, TVS Suzuki plans to launch TVS Eureka, which the company claims is the first LPG scooter in the country. To be priced around Rs 35,000, the bi-fuel scooter, with technology from Lovato of Italy, will have a six litre petrol tank in addition to the 1.6 kg LPG cylinder. And the expected mileage will be 120 km per cylinder, said a company official, adding that the government approval for the scooter was pending.

Kinetic Engineering has also tied up with Lovato for a similar bi-fuel scooter, but isawaiting government approval. The 100 cc scooter from the Kinetic stable will be able to offer a mileage of 100 km per one kg LPG cylinder.

Fiat has displayed bi-fuel Uno and Sienna models which use both CNG and petrol. The company, which has already carried out extensive research at its Mumbai plant on natural gas as a fuel, expects to commercially launch both the models shortly.

Mahindra & Mahindra has plans to launch two CNG-powered voyagers-CNG 3-door and Eco CNG 5-door-shortly. The company intends to target the `Phat-Phat' taxi market in Delhi with the five-door jeep, while the 3-door vehicle will be both for commercial and household usage, said a company official. The running cost of both the jeeps, which will also have a five litre standby petrol tank, will be "at most Re 1 per km", he added. Besides, the company intends to launch an electric vehicle "Bijli" by April, which it claims will be a "zero pollution vehicle" with a running cost of 50 paise per km.

On the industrial usage front, Godrej &Boyce Mfg Co Ltd announced the launch of new series of diesel and LPG forklift trucks in 1.5, two, 2.5 and three tonne capacity for industrial applications from March onwards. The company is already manufacturing LPG powered forklifts which are being used by Coca Cola, Pepsi and several pharmaceutical companies in India, said a company official.

"There is a perceptible shift towards usage of LPG-powered vehicles for industrial usage, especially for those companies going in for ISO 14,000 certification", the official added.

The industry efforts to encourage use of alternative fuels notwithstanding, "the government policy is not very encouraging towards use of LPG as a fuel", said a senior executive of a leading automobile company. The availability of CNG in limited towns only also means localised usage of the CNG-powered vehicles. CNG depots are there only in a few cities including Delhi, Mumbai and Surat, sources added. Sources said while passenger vehicles using CNG as a fuel can be plied on the roads,those running on LPG still cannot be done.

The ministry of petroleum has cleared LPG-powered vehicles to be run within industrial premises for industrial use, but the ministry of surface transport has yet to give the go-ahead for LPG to be used as fuel outside industrial premises, sources added.