In Coimbatore, delivery boys of Domino’s Pizza will soon deliver pizza to customers in electric two-wheelers as part of a pilot undertaken with the help of the Ministry of Heavy Industries to promote use of such vehicles.

The company is buying 50 electric two-wheelers for which the Ministry will provide incentives, said the Ministry’s Additional Secretary Ambuj Sharma.

The Ministry is also joining hands with Ashok Leyland for developing an electric bus and with the Tata Group for a hybrid bus.

“The Tatas are running the hybrid bus in Spain. We want them to run it in India, too,” he told reporters.

From April 1, an incentive scheme will be launched to promote buying of hybrid and electric vehicles.

This is for two-wheelers, three-wheelers, cars and buses, and in future for trucks, too.

The incentive will be 30-35 per cent of the price difference between an electric vehicle and a comparable petrol vehicle.

Supposing a small size petrol vehicle is ₹4-5 lakh and the electric vehicle car is ₹7 lakh, out of the difference of ₹2.5 lakh, 30-35 per cent will be the incentive to the manufacturer, he said on the sidelines of a conference on Automotive R&D, jointly organised by the CII and the Tamil Nadu Technology Development & Promotion Centre.

Sharma said by 2020, there will be 6-7 million electric and hybrid vehicles, including two-wheelers.

At present, only 20,000 electric two-wheelers are sold a year. “We are working out what the figures are going to be in the next 10 years,” he said.

For hybrid vehicles, the government has allotted the Heavy Industries Ministry ₹75 crore.

“We have asked for ₹795 crore for the next two years and the Finance Ministry is willing to provide funds,” he said.

The total amount includes ₹500 crore for incentive, ₹200 crore for technology and ₹100 crore for ‘charging’ infrastructure and pilot projects, he said.

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