Piaggio Vehicles, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Italian Piaggio group, on Wednesday launched electric three-wheeler Ape’ E-City. It is the first product in its new electric range of three-wheelers, Ape’ Electrik, which marks its entry into this segment.

Ape’ Electrik will have a full range of electric vehicles across various categories with Ape’ E-City being the first product launched under the range.

The Italian original equipment manufacturer is launching the Ape’ E-City in just three cities in India — Amritsar, Chandigarh and Calicut — for now with plans to expand to 25 smaller cities by June 2020.

The three-wheeler is equipped with swappable lithium ion batteries. “We will have 40 battery swap stations in each of the cities where the customer can swap their flat batteries for fully charged batteries,” Diego Graffi, managing director and CEO of PVPL, told The Telegraph. The Ape’ E-City will retail for Rs 1.97 lakh, ex showroom Delhi.

“Piaggio has 15 years of experience in developing electric two-wheelers and has a range of electric vehicles in its global portfolio. We are eager to bring our vehicles to India once the government policy regarding EVs is clearer,” said Graffi.

Acknowledging that the BS-VI engines will increase the prices of vehicles by about 17 per cent, Graffi said: “We are a fuel-agnostic company and we offer powertrains in petrol, diesel, CNG and LPG.”