Scania in talks with government for biofuel buses, scouts for component suppliers in India

Pune, October 8, 2013: Scania Commercial Vehicles India (SCVI) is in talks with at least two state governments to make demonstrations of its zero emission bio-fuel buses.

Speaking exclusively with Autocar Professional on the sidelines of the ongoing Diesel Emissions Conference in Pune, Krister Thulin, director, pre-sales and marketing, SCVI, said: “We are in talks with the homologation authorities in India (ARAI, CIRT) over our biofuel buses and we are also coordinating with two state governments to demonstrate the advantages of introducing biofuel buses in India. We hope that at least in the next one year’s time we will be able to execute these proposed demonstrations to the government officials. We believe that biofuel is the key for decarbonising the transport system, which is a major contributor to air pollution across the world.”

Thulin, who expressed joy over Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) initiative on generating alternate fuel for vehicles, said that “it is a big good news that large oil companies such as IOC and BP (British Petroleum) are venturing into the alternate fuel space as we move into the future.”

The firm is currently rolling out approximately 250 trucks per year (2013 data) from its Bangalore plant at a localisation rate of 20 percent. “While components like chassis and body building (100 percent localisation) are localised, we are importing the engines and gearboxes into India currently. Going forward, we plan to increase the localisation rate here but without compromising on the global Scania quality,” said Thulin without revealing the targeted localisation figures in the future.

The company currently has a local base of 30 suppliers and is scouting for more. It also plans to start the production of luxury buses at its Bangalore facility by April 2014 where bus body building will be completely localised.

The company is currently working to ensure deliveries of nearly 60 heavy duty trucks and 120 luxury buses to fleet operators located in the Southern and Western regions of India. SCVI has targeted a 35 percent share in the luxury bus market and 25 percent share in the heavy duty truck market in India in the coming three to five years’ time. “We estimate the annual market size of luxury buses and heavy duty trucks to be in the range of 1,000-1,200 units and 1,000 units per year, respectively,” said Thulin.