According to Mahindra Alternative Technologies Ltd (MATL) president Soami Saran, "We are looking at exports markets primarily in the east like Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Mahindra is also looking at Germany as a potential market."

MAT, a wholly-owned subsidiary of M&M, is in charge of the Bijlee project. Mahindra Eco Mobiles Ltd is one of the MATL ventures focusing on the Bijlee project.

"We have had inquiries to the tune of 2,000 vehicles from east Asia. We are looking at around 1,500-2,000 orders in the first year," added Mr Saran.

Bijlee-II will be a technologically-improved version of the earlier version and will be better to handle. The new version will also have a 10 per cent higher range than the original version, said Mr Saran. The export version will be priced in line with the domestic version, Mr Saran added. The Bijlee is priced at around Rs 3.1 lakh in the domestic market.

The Coimbatore plant, where the Bijlee is manufactured has a capacity of 200 units per month, which can be stretched to double capacity. The 10-seater Bijlee is manufactured through a joint venture between Mahindra Eco Mobiles and Jaya Automotive. M&M have invested an additional Rs 50 lakh in infrastructure at the plant for the project.

M&M is also commercially launching the original version of the Bijlee in Delhi, Mumbai and Agra in the coming month. Commenting on the market size in India, Mr Saran said that 1.5 lakh three wheelers (except pick-ups) are annually sold in India. He added that even two to three per cent conversions of these vehicles to electric mode would add up to a substantial demand.The cost of electric at 50 paise per km is also lower than diesel which is at 55 paise,added Mr Saran. Scooters India and Bajaj Tempo are the other players in the electric three wheeler category.