REVA Teams With U.S. Startup on Deal to Assemble Small EVs in NY State
By John O'Dell October 26, 2009
The rumors began a little over a month ago - we reported on on of the early ones - that India's REVA Electric Car Co. was eying upstate New York for a U.S. assembly plant for its just-unveiled NXR 3-door hatchback EV (right).
Well, we missed the formal announcement (no correspondents in that part of the Empire State), but it was made, late Friday: Reva has selected a just-formed U.S. electric car company, Bannon Automotive, to partner with it in an as-yet unbuilt EV factory near Syracuse.
The announcement has brought mixed reviews from New York citizenry, some welcoming the idea while others worrying that the state is handing out tax incentives and other financial lures to a relatively unknown enterprise.
Reva and Bannon have executed an exclusive North American licensing deal and have agreed to pony up a combined $26.5 million to rehabilitate and outfit an abandoned 150,000-square-foot building in a Syracuse suburb, the local newspaper reported.
Bannon CEO Paul Wimer said at a news conference that the state has agreed to provide $3 million in development grants to help the company get rolling, with an an additional $3.76 million in tax incentives and breaks to be parceled out farther along in the game.
Bannon also has applied for $40 million in loans from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Wimer, co-founder and managing director of the Long Island-based venture capital firm Topspin Partners, said the goal is to have the plant operating by the end of next summer.
He said the company would aim the small but highway-legal EV at major commuter markets, such as New York City, where its relatively short range wouldn't be much of a hindrance.
An entry-level, two-seat version of the NXR would be priced at about $17,000, Wimer said.
For that princely sum buyers would get a car with a lead-acid battery, a top speed of 55 mph and a maximum range of about 50 miles per charge.
An "upscale"four-seat version would sell in the $20,000-$25,000 range, use a advanced lithium-ion battery, and provide a 65-mph top speed and a range of 100 miles, Wimer said.
Provided a Syracuse EV factory really does begin operating, the 100-200 workers there would likely simply be assembling cars from component kits packaged and shipped from Reva's production facility in Bangalore, India,
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