The New Competitors: India's Three-Pronged Approach To The Electric Car Market

The New Competitors: India's Three-Pronged Approach To The Electric Car Market

By Nick Kurczewski, Contributor

Unwilling to leave the potentially lucrative electric vehicle market to Japanese, European and - maybe - American  carmakers, Indian auto companies are rushing to develop EVs of their own.

The impetus is twofold: To combat gridlock and air pollution at home, and to cash in on global demand for cleaner, eco-friendly vehicles.

The Indian firms will be joining a rapidly growing field of manufacturers looking to market environmentally-focused vehicles.

Industry heavy-weights like General Motors, Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi, Renault-Nissan and Daimler all have promised to bring plug-in hybrids or battery-electric vehicles to market within the next three-to-five years.

Some of their upstart Indian competitors, however, say they will hit the market with their electric vehicles as early as the end of this year.

To find out what's on tap, Green Car Advisor took a look at three of the main players in the burgeoning Indian electric vehicle market.

Reva

Reva Electric Car Co. is the minnow of the bunch. And no, we're not referring to the 102 inch length of the company's cartoonish-looking two-door hatchback (right) -- four inches shorter than a Smart Fortwo.

Based in Bangalore, Reva is a small family-owned company that happens to be one of the most established electric car manufacturers in the world, with a vehicle that initially went on sale seven years ago.

A Reva offers room for two adults plus two children in the rear, and a top speed of 50 miles per hour.

Since retail sales began in July 2001, some 2,600 Revas have found homes. Chetan Maini, Reva's deputy chairman and chief technical officer, says the majority have been sold in Bangalore and London, where it's called the "G-Wiz."

Maini explains that Reva's intention was to begin with "one Indian city and one European city," and build the business from there.
In India, the Reva now sells for the equivalent of $7,500, not cheap in country where almost half the population lives below thepoverty level.

But a recent boost has come courtesy of the Indian government, with news that electric car owners in New Delhi will receive subsidies and tax breaks. This will lower the Reva's price by as much as 25 percent.

Public charging points will be installed throughout the Indian capital - a useful consideration as the present Reva has a range of only 50 miles.

Maini says technical improvements are on the way."We will have lithium-ion batteries available next year," and existing owners will be able to retrofit their old model with the new batteries.

Reva will begin adding "one new model and new variant every year," starting in 2009, he says.
Expansion plans will focus on India and Europe, Maini says, with  U.S. sales "a long term goal."

One reason is that regulations for  the "quadricycle class" cars Reva makes (i.e. city-cars with regulated weight and top speed) are less stringent in Europe and India.

Maini says, though, that Reva's upcoming models will be classified as regular cars, not quadricycles.

Tata

Tata Motors grabbed everyone's attention at this year's New Delhi Auto Expo, when it unveiled the $2,500 Nano hatchback (left) .

The car is as bare-bones as a car can get. 

A base model does without power-steering, air conditioning, a radio and even the customary dual windshield wipers - Tata's engineers deemed that one did the job just as well, at half the cost.

As an ironic follow up to building the world's cheapest car, Tata Motors then purchased two revered British luxury makes, Jaguar and Land Rover, from Ford Motor Company.

In March, during the Geneva auto show and the European debut of the Nano, rumors circulated that Tata might try to import the Nano into Europe as an electric vehicle.

The company also has plans to being a low-speed electric truck  to the U.S.

The company had made no secret about its aspiration to sell the Nano outside of India - but had problems to overcome.

The 623-c.c., two-cylinder motor in the Indian-market Nano would never pass European emissions standards; lack of airbags would see it flunk safety tests too.

Then Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group and Tata Motors, said these safety features could be added.  And by marketing the Nano as a quadricycle, Tata could skirt the stricter regulations that apply if the Nano wee imported as a regular car.

Now -- no surprise -- the German newspaper Auto Bild  has reported that Tata announced that it plans to build an electric version of the Nano. Dubbed the E-Nano, it will be built in cooperation with Norwegian electric car firm, Miljoebil Grenland, and could go on sale later this year.

In a strange twist, sales will initially be limited to Norway. No technical specifications or sales dates for other markets have been released for the E-Nano.  

Mahindra & Mahindra

If you've ever heard of Mahindra - and don't feel bad if you haven't - it's for one of two things:  the company's tractors, and sport-utility vehicles.

Mahindra vehicles (left)  will begin arriving in the U.S. next year, though choices will be limited to a diesel-powered pick-up  and a mid-size SUV.

That's hardly the ideal starting point for an electric vehicle, and possibly one reason why Mahindra's electric car plans remain mysterious.

According to a report in The Economic Times , a Mahindra official told the newspaper that the company is preparing an electric car "bigger than the Reva."  The car will have seating for four and should be on sale by 2010, first in India, then in other markets, the report said.

Mahindra representatives politely told us that they had "no comment" about the company's electric car plans, at least for the moment.

However, The Economic Times  report says that the car will be powered by lead acid batteries, then move to a more efficient nickel metal hydride battery pack.

We're willing to speculate that Mahindra will forge an electric car alliance with part-time partner, the Renault-Nissan Alliance, considering that Mahindra already builds the bargain-basement Logan sedan in India for Renault-Nissan's Romanian affiliate, Dacia.

The Japanese-French auto making alliance has plans to introduce a range of electric vehicles over the next three years and it makes sense for Mahindra to piggy-back onto this technology.

That's not to say that Mahindra is falling short in terms of its own R&D.

During the New Delhi Auto Expo , we got a first-hand look at Mahindra's numerous alternative energy projects - not to mention a test drive in a hydrogen-powered rickshaw.

Diesel hybrids, hydrogen, and electric power all featured heavily on Mahindra's stand.  But for the moment, these projects remain in the developmental stage.

Kurczewski occasionally files European news for  Green Car Advisor and is also our man in India .

John O'Dell:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.