Bangalore: Depending on whom you ask, this tiny company is either the next big thing in automobiles, or a maker of glorified golf carts.
What’s indisputable is that as the whole automotive world seems to be racing suddenly toward the age of electricity, the Reva Electric Car Co. is in the lead, ahead of better-known local competitors such as Tata Motors Ltd and global giants such as General Motors Co. (GM) and Toyota Corp.
New strategies: Reva’s CTO Chetan Kumar Maini. Hemant Mishra / Mint
Daimler and Toyota are supposed to start trials of electric versions of the Smart Car and the Prius, respectively, by the end of the year. The Nissan Leaf will come out next year, as will the Chevy Volt. And the Obama administration is committing billions of taxpayer dollars to loans to help companies produce alternative vehicles, including hybrids and all-electric cars.
US vice-president Joe Biden was in Wilmington, Delaware, on Tuesday at a defunct GM plant that Fisker Automotive, backed by a $528.7 million government loan, will refurbish and use to make hybrids.
But years before the sleek Tesla Roadster hugged California highways or GM unveiled the Chevrolet Volt, Chetan Kumar Maini was making and selling stubby electric vehicles turned out by a nondescript factory here. Reva has more all-electric vehicles on the road than any other company, but it still has a long haul before it can make the vehicles marketable for the masses.
Last month, the company won an important stamp of approval when GM said it would use Reva’s technology in the electric version of its Chevrolet Spark, a small car whose conventional petrol version GM sells here already. The electric version of the Spark is expected to go on sale in India by the end of next year, according to GM officials.
Reva’s technology is “second to none”, said Karl Slym, president and managing director of GM India, adding that Reva’s appeal came from its drive train, the collection of components that move the car, which is easily installed in different vehicles and works with various batteries.
GM’s vote of confidence is a big boost for the privately held company, which has been making vehicles for eight years, but has sold only a few more than 3,000 cars and has not yet turned a profit. By contrast, big Indian auto makers sell tens of thousands of cars each month.
But now Reva’s moment may have arrived.
The company is retiring its only model, known here as the Reva i and in Great Britain as the G-Wiz—and mocked for its small, boxy size and its lack of speed. The vehicle doesn’t even qualify as an automobile but is called a quadracycle, a slower, four-wheeled vehicle similar to an all-terrain vehicle, which is not required to meet car safety standards in countries such as Britain.
Reva’s new model, the NXR, will comply with European safety regulations, seat four and travel up to 160km on a full battery charge, at speeds of up to 65km an hour—what’s known in the industry as a city car.