Ashok Leyland looking at commercial vehicles running on electricity

Ashok Leyland, a technology leader in heavy commercial vehicles, is looking at developing technologies for the manufacture of an entire range of vehicles, including electric buses and trucks.

While technology development for electric buses and trucks has rather been slow, Ashok Leyland expects electric buses and trucks to be commercially manufactured in the country in the next 7-8 years.

"We are looking at technology solutions for electric vehicles across the spectrum of light, medium and heavy vehicles," Dr V Sumantran, executive vice chairman of Hinduja Automotive, said.

"It will take 5-7 years of maturation and we must allow that to happen," he added.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 16th Asia Pacific Auto Conference, Sumantran said Ashok Leyland is planning to bring out an electric version of the recently launched light commercial vehicle, Dost as well.

Despite the challenges in the development and production of electric vehicles, he said, electric systems are still the way to go. For this, however, the industry must get past the infrastructure deficiencies, including shortage of electricity.