India to Get 1st EV in November
1 June 2000
India - Looking a little like a 4 wheel Sparrow (the 3 wheel mini-car
from motorcycle seat manufacturer Corbin) the Maini Reva, will be
introduced later this year. It is India's first electric car and it will
also be the lowest priced car in the market at just $4,120 (US).
The vehicle will be produced at the Maini Group's Bommassandra
factory, located just outside Bangalore. Production is slated for 1,500
units the first year and 3,000 for the second. Plans for the Reva
originally began 5 years ago and has so far cost $25 million to get it
ready for production. Maini Group headed up by Sudershan Maini. His core
business is Maini Precision Products, a producer of high quality, and
high-precision parts for OEMs in India. A subsidiary, Maini Materials
Movement, produces high-tech equipment to transport material and people
across shop floors, which, reportedly, whet the company's appetite for
electric-powered vehicles.
Reva, means 'new beginning' in Sanskrit, and also stands for
Revolutionary Electric Vehicle Alternative. Measuring only about 6.5 feet
in length, the Reva was designed in-house by a group of graduates from the
Pasadena Design Center in California. The roof line is tall in relation to
the length, the wheels are over-sized while the flat windscreen (used for
economical considerations) and A-pillar seem contrary to the rest of the
body curves. But it helps give the Reva a distinctive character. The
chassis consists of a light-weight space frame, heavily triangulated to
provide sufficient stiffness and strength. This space frame supports all
the mechanicals, batteries and the powertrain. Acrylo-Butadiene-Styrene
(ABS) body panels are bolted onto the chassis. The panels are
color-impregnated to eliminate any painting at the assembly stage. This
construction method requires only a fraction of the capital costs of
conventional stamped enabling Maini to build the Reva at comparatively low
cost, even with low volumes.
Economical measures also convinced Maini to opt for a thermo-formed
instrument panel (rather than injection-molded), to dispense with curved
glass and winding windows, and to select conventional lead-acid batteries
rather than new-generation lithium types. Additionally, many parts are
borrowed from existing Maini products, such as the door handles and wing
mirrors.
Power is provided by a set of eight 6 Volt tubular lead-acid batteries
to drive the electric motor. The vehicle will weigh approximately 1,600
pounds. A full battery charge takes seven hours and provides a range of 50
miles. In quick-charge mode (2.5 hours), you get 80% of power capacity, or
about 40 miles.
The extremely spartan interior features only a speedometer and an
indicator to show how much charge is left. One available option is a
patented Climate Control System to either cool or heat the seats via pores
in the seat surface through which air is pumped.
MJR