THE proposed joint venture between Hero Group and UK's electric vehicle (EV) firm Ultra Motor for electric two-wheelers is off. The two have decided to part ways within a year of launching co-branded scooters and bikes in India. While the existing technical collaboration-cum-joint-marketing deal has been disbanded, the proposed 50:50 JV announced in October'07 has also been scrapped. Under the deal, Ultra provided the EV motor for the two wheelers while Hero Cycles, the privately held bicycle making arm of the Munjals, assembled the vehicles at its Ludhiana unit. Ultra also set up an exclusive distribution network of 150 dealers across India. Ultra Motor chairman Joe Santana said: "Our vision did not match with that of the Hero Group. We wanted to expand at a much faster pace. The congestion in cities creates a natural market for electric twowheelers. Now, we have our own plans which is to invest Rs 150 crore over the next three years.' Hero Cycles managing director Vijay Munjal told ET: "We have terminated our technical agreement with Ultra Motors. The proposed JV also stands cancelled. We have our own range of low speed EVs in the market under the