California-Based Design House Designs Electric Car for Indian Company

BANGALORE: The Bangalore-based Maini group, which manufactures precision components, material handling equipment, bio-detergents, granite tiles and abrasives, unveiled, December 19, at a press conference in Bangalore its latest product, Reva, a two-door hatch-back battery-powered car meant for city use.

Research has shown that most urban car owners in India use their vehicles primarily for in-city travel. The average distance covered per person in a day is 15 to 40 km and the average speeds are 12-20 kmph during peak hours and 25-40 kmph during non-peak hours. Based on these use patterns the Reva has been designed from scratch by Amerigon, a California-based design house specializing in EV (electric vehicle) design. With a payload of 225 kg (two adults and two children), the car has a range of 80 km on full battery charge and a top speed of 65 kmph.

The car is powered by a pack of eight lead-acid batteries specifically meant for EV use in that they can withstand a high number of charge/discharge cycles (600) to give a long battery life. The battery is charged with a 12 amps, 2 kW charger that can be plugged into a standard 220 volt, 15 amps wall plug. The charging rate is 80 percent in three hours and the balance 20 percent in another two hours.

A chopper controller enables braking energy to be fed back into the battery. A low battery power level indicator warns the driver when 30 km of driving power is still left. The car is fitted with a microprocessor-based energy management system that ensures optimum use of battery energy.

The drive train consists of a DC motor (6 hp continuous with 17 hp peak) coupled to a 7:1 single reduction gear which drives the rear wheels. The driver has to only operate the accelerator and brake.

Keeping the crowded Indian city road conditions in mind, the body panels of the car are vacuum formed from light-weight high impact-resistant ABS plastics to withstand denting due to bumps from other vehicles. The chassis is of steel tubes while the front and rear bumpers are of strong high density polyethylene.

According to Chetan Maini, the power consumption of the Reva will be around 9 kWh per full charge, which enables 80 km of travel. The replacement cost of the battery pack will come to around Rs. 15,000. The car will be priced at around Rs. 1.60 lakhs plus taxes. All told, driving in the Reva will cost about half that in Maruti 800 with the added bonus of virtually no parts to be regularly replaced due to wear and tear (barring the braking and suspension components). Add the fact that an EV entails pollution-free running and we have in the Reva an ideal vehicle for Indian cities.

Sudershan Maini, Chairman of the group, claims that already purchase inquiries are pouring in from the neighboring countries as well as some European ones like Austria and Germany. The group plans to spend the next one year propagating the EV concept in Bangalore with a fleet of 60 cars and then take up manufacture by October 1997, under a new company called Maini- Amerigon Car Company Pvt. Ltd.

The manufacturing facility at Malur near Bangalore will involve an investment of Rs. 30 crores for a capacity of 20,000 cars per annum. Exports will commence from the second year. Initially the indigenization level will be 50 percent which will rise to 70 percent by the end of the third year. The projected market size is 40,000 cars in 1998 rising to one lakh cars by the year 2000.

(Courtesy: The Hindu)

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