HONDA INDIA along with other motorcycle and scooter manufacturers Bajaj and Kinetic are considering the development of gas-powered bikes.
In a country where buses, cars and auto-rickshaws already widely use LPG - a clean-burning and high-octane liquified propane/butane mix which is much cheaper than petrol, this makes more sense than you might think.
The three bike brands are known to be in licence negotiations with Energtek, an Israel-based company that is a world leader in absorbed natural gas (ANG) technology. This company claims that ANG will reduce fuel costs by over 50 per cent compared to petrol.
Bajaj says it would like to develop a dual-fuel two-wheeler which can run on both gas and petrol.
Whether or not this technology can also be adapted to handle methane is open to question. India already uses a lot of methane produced by digesters from animal and human dung as a domestic and industrial fuel. And if ANG kit can be modified, given the fiercely flatulent effects of the typical Indian diet, the self-propelled motorcyclist could also be a real prospect.
