VECV widens CNG commercial vehicles range

Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECV) Ltd, which is a joint venture between Eicher Motors Ltd and Volvo AB, recently decided to widen its range of medium-duty trucks that run on compressed natural gas (CNG). To start with, VECV will launch a CNG truck with a gross vehicle weight (GVW) upto 14 tons, said executive vice president, light and medium-duty trucks and buses, Shyam Maller, explaining that GVW measures the weight of the vehicle, in addition to the payload. Recently, the company showcased CNG variants of its 4.9 and 5.9-tonne trucks, typically used in last-mile delivery operations by fleet owners. While these are the lightest payload trucks VECV offers, the automaker plans to bring in CNG trucks with higher payloads as the footprint of CNG stations grows. As a matter of fact, the footprint of CNG stations run by Indraprastha Gas (Ltd) and GAIL (India Ltd), is increasing predominantly in New Delhi and NCR (National Capital Region), and in parts of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh and this development prompted the company to look at a range of vehicles with higher tonnage. A greater availability of CNG will impel fleet owners to demand higher tonnage trucks to move longer distances, instead of having lighter trucks cover smaller distances. Competitors such as Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. and Tata Motors Ltd. do not have CNG variants of higher tonnage medium duty trucks as yet, he added.