Hero Surge S32: How and when can I buy one?

I saw the Hero Surge S32 which transforms from a scooter to a three wheeler online. I am very interested in buying this, but when will it be available and can it be registered for road use?

Rajiv Mehrotra, via email

Autocar India says: The Surge S32 is a very unique vehicle but despite the fact that it looks like a futuristic concept, parent company Hero tells us that this product is quite close to production ready. When the company plans to launch it and in which markets remains unclear at the moment, but a lot of that comes down to the registration process. 

As this is both a two and three wheeler, it comes under no existing vehicle category in India. A new category will have to be made for the Surge S32 and it will be known as L2/L5 - which is essentially a combination of the existing L2 and L5 categories. As we understand it, this proposal is awaiting official approval from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India. 

Regarding the price, we expect that the Surge S32 will be priced higher than existing three-wheeler EVs in the L5 category, but the difference probably won’t be too high to keep the S32 appealing to buyers. The price premium might be somewhere in the ballpark of ten to thirty percent, but this remains to be seen.

Given that the Surge S32 is such an out of the box creation, it might be some time before the vehicle is widely available. We will share news updates on our website and social media handles as and when the developments occur.