Indian Car Blog - Carazoo.com

Well, did it ever occur to you that Reva, the first Indian electric car company might soon have a “Made in Italy” tag attached to it if all things just go right?

Just when the electric car company which had said that it could make profit from factories that make just 5,000 electric cars a year and is planning to open a plant near Syracuse, NY, USA, we also have word that Fiat’s Termini Imerese plant in Sicily, Italy could be converted to build the next-gen electric vehicles (EVs).

Cimino & Associates Private Equity is raising funds of 50 million euros, to date, around $68 million U.S. to buy the plant and is talking to Reva about taking it over and building vehicles there that cost around 16,000 to 17,000 euros ($22,000-$23,250). Apparently, the project needs 65 million euros to get off the ground. Automotive News says that the plant would need to make 30,000 vehicles a year to break even, which doesn't mesh with Reva's bold claims. Fiat is expected to close the plant in 2011.

Reva is currently taking orders for the NXR in Europe and the cheapest option – 9,995 euros or approx. $13,728 is to buy the car and lease the lead acid batteries. The upgraded NXG model, pictured, should be available as a 2011 model sometime soon.

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General Motors India showcased its electric car e-Spark in The Delhi Auto Show 2010. The E-Spark has been manufactured by GM India in technical collaboration with REVA, pioneers in the electric car domain. This is in line with GM India and REVA`s commitment to introduce environment friendly mobility solutions in the country.

The electric version of Chevy’s small car in India, the Spark, e-Spark is GM India`s bold move into the Battery Electric Vehicle segment and will be India`s first 4-door Passenger Electric Vehicle. The e-Spark will be one of the leading platforms of GM in India in its `Drive to Green` initiative.

Karl Sylm, president and managing director, GM India in the occasion of unveiling of the e-Spark said “GM’s ability to develop platforms and REVA’s capability in developing electric drive-trains and control systems will result in the consumer having a wider choice of EVs. We hope Central and State government will extend t he necessary support to develop the necessary infrastructure for electric vehicle charging and providing specific financial benefits to consumers, who make the choice to adopt an environment-friendly mode of personal transport. We look forward to the support of the Honorable Chief Minister of Delhi in our Drive to Green initiative.”

The e-Spark will come equipped with remote diagnostics system that will allow Service Engineers to monitor each car remotely for vital parameters and customers can be informed in advance if the need arises. This will minimize vehicle downtime and allow for advance readiness for vehicle servicing prior to arrival at service stations.

This is a path breaking initiative that has the ability to re-define how automotive companies in India working in partnership plan for future mobility solutions keeping the carbon footprints and environmental issues in mind. The e-Spark will be one of the leading platforms of GM in India in its `Drive to Green` initiative. E-Spark might be priced around 7-8 Lakhs when launched in India in about a couple of months.

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Dubai is a place of rich Emirs, sheiks and oil barons. These tycoons drive Ferraris, Beamers and Mercs. So, what is the Indian REVA doing there?

The REVA is there with a mission to complete. The tiny environmentally friendly car is in Dubai as a part of the 'Green Car Programme'.

The Dubai Municipality has started test driving the first REVA, which is licensed to SS Lootah Company. The car has been gifted by the company to the Municipality for three days for the employees of the civic body to test drive the car and familiarize with this type of eco-friendly cars.

The car has been parked at the entrance of the main building of the Municipality as part of the civic body's endeavor to spread awareness on environmental conservation and cooperation with its strategic partners.

The project named the 'Green Car Programme' comes as part of its efforts to achieve the vision of Dubai to reduce all elements of pollution caused by cars and encourage people to use clean energy in addition to enjoy other benefits offered by this car such as safety and calmness during its driving in addition to the material savings as its cost fits people from every strata of the society in Dubai.

Hope REVA makes the mission possible.

Amen!

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Reva Electric Car Company has made the Indian car market proud at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. The two new electric car models from Reva, NXR and NXG, were unveiled at the show and soon became show stoppers and stole a lot o car lovers’ hearts.

The company had the European markets in mind, when it unveiled these two new cars at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Now for those who had been tangled with the thought of when these two new cars will be launched India.

Both the NXR and NXG is expected to get launched by the mid of 2011. To be very precise, the NXR will be launched by mid-2010 and the NXG will be launched by mid-2011. NXR is a lithium-ion powered four-seater electric car and the NXG is a sporty two seater.

Those of you, who are planning to own one, get ready to shell out Rs 10.49 lakh for the NXR intercity version and Rs.16.1 lakh for the NXG. And this is excluding the price for the lithium ion battery.

The NXR has an acid battery option also and it will be priced at Rs. 6.99 lakh. This is the approximate pricing of the new Revas in the European market. And it is expected that there will not be much change on the price at which it will be available in India. It is for sure pretty expensive.

But you cannot also expect anything less for these electric cars. The question here is, will the Indian car lovers really care that much for the environment and buy this electric car when they can use the same money to buy more attractive cars with high tech and alluring features.

Both these models will have a distinctive recharging technique. The new REVive, an invisible fuel tank and the customer SMSes or telephones RECC, which helps in immediate remote recharge.

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It was already expected of Reva and now proving the speculations right, the Indian electric car company is making a clear entry into the American car industry.

It was only last week that the Reva had unveiled its two new electric car models, NXR and NXG, in the Frankfurt Motor Show. These new cars are believed to have engrossed much of praise and admiration. There are now reports about how the company is now planning to build a really huge auto plant in upstate New York.

This multimillion-dollar plan of Reva is now going through the process of getting approved. And the company is curiously waiting for the moment with fingers crossed.
The first and the only car manufacturer of electric cars in India, Reva has already exported its battery run car, Reva, and has made a very appreciative global presence.

But the two new models NXR, the four-seat hatchback, and the NXG, the two-seater sports car will be, for sure, contemporary models from the auto maker and will surely help the company do more profitable business.

There are, more than certainties, speculations about the financial source and other matters such as the time when the plant will start working and if the company is half way through deciding for a plant in the country why is it that there have not started hiring people. It was expected that in India the company would launch both its new models, NXR and NXG, by 2011 but it is still not known when it will mark its entry in the global market.

The deal the company has been waiting for includes state and federal incentives. The company may not completely dependent on the $40 million in federal Department of Energy loan guarantee funding. And with more and more Indian companies starting their plants at different parts of the world, like Tata Motors acquiring loan for its electric car plant from the British government, it is a moment of pride and joy.

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India’s only Electric car maker REVA Electric Car Company has unveiled the two NXR and NXG at the Frankfurt Motor Show. It is the first time REVA has taken part in this prestigious Auto Show.

The electric car maker has revealed that the NXR (NeXt Reva) will go on sale in Europe in 2010. REVA has also announced the price of the NXR, at less than € 9,995 for the City model and the lithium-ion NXR Intercity version will be around € 14,995. But the price of the car will vary across Europe depending on taxes and subsidies. Customers will be offered the option of purchasing the car and batteries separately, or at an all-inclusive price.

Powered by a lithium-ion battery, the REVA NXR is a three-door, four-seater hatchback family car that is suitable for urban driving. The car can travel at the top speed of 104 km/h, with a range of 160 km per charge. If using the 90 minute fast charge (normal charging is eight hours), the REVA NXR offers an effective range of 320 km a day. A fast charge for 15 minutes will provide a 40 km range.

The NXR has keyless entry and operation, dual charge ports, intelligent digital display and a range of telematics. These include SMS alerts and commands such as distance-to-empty and time-to-full charge, remote cabin heat/cool, a monthly eco-drive check by email, service and insurance alerts, remote diagnostics and healing and REVive remote emergency charge. REVive is an exclusive technology of REVAthat acts like an invisible reserve fuel tank and addresses ‘range anxiety’.

If a customer runs out of charge, they can telephone or SMS REVA’s customer support centre. The advanced telematics feature will assess the car’s batteries remotely and activate a reserve amount of energy while protecting the battery life. Within minutes, a few extra kilometres of range are made available via the telematics and the driver can continue home or to a place where the NXR can be charged.

The REVA NXG (NeXt Generation) will have a range of 200 km per charge and a top speed of 130 km/h. It features the same telematics as the REVA NXR, including REVive and using the fast charge, it has an effective range of 400 kilometres a day. The REVA NXG will grace roads in 2011. The car will come with a price tag of € 23,000 excluding batteries plus a monthly mobility fee.

REVA Electric Car Company is committed to the creation of ultra low carbon cars and has only made Electric Vehicles (EVs). The REVA NXR and REVA NXG are the absolute ‘Green Cars’ that have lowest dust-to-dirt carbon footprints than any car in mass production.

The REVA NXR has been designed to use approximately 80% fewer parts than a conventional or hybrid car and will be assembled in REVA’s new ultra low-carbon assembly plant in Bangalore powered by solar energy and using natural light and ventilation and rainwater harvesting. Preparations have begun to create a ‘second life’ for the lithium batteries to optimise energy efficiency and reduce the cost to consumers via the creation of guaranteed residual values.

From 2010, REVA will publish the carbon emissions for the assembly and lifetime operation of both these new cars and by this environmental disclosure, customers can make an informed buying decision.

REVA will launch its Bangalore output with capacity of 300,000 units per year. Today, REVA is selling, or being test marketed, in 24 countries worldwide and has the largest deployed fleet of electric cars on the market with over 3,000 EVs on the road and more than 70 million kilometres of user experience.

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The cars that will be showcased in the Frankfurt Motor Show will be the best in of our times as the companies are competing with each other for bringing out the best. And the show will not only be an exhibition of wonderful machines, it will also display the toil of the car makers round the word for the past years and a peep into the future of cars.

For the Indian car market, it will not have the privilege of driving all the cars available in the motor show, but yes there will be cars from the Frankfurt Motor Show that will be later launched in the Indian car market.

The two models from the Indian electric car maker Maini Reva is a good example for this. Reva will be showcasing its two electric cars, NXR, a four-seater two door hatchback, and NXG, a sporty two seater. Both the cars will run on lithium-ion batteries and these eco-friendly cars from the only electric car maker of the country will also be available to the Indian customers within a period of two years. The production of NXR will begin by 2010 and for the NXG by 2011.

Another car that will be showcased in the Frankfurt Motor Show and will also mark its entry into the Indian car market is the baby Phantom from Rolls Royce, Ghost. This small ultra luxury sedan is engineered by Helmut Reidl has very alluring and dominant features. The Ghost that will be powered by a 570PS 6.6-litre turbocharged V12 engine is expected to hit the Indian car market by the end of 2009 or by early 2010. The car will be price between 1.2 and 1.3 crore.

Within the next few years, the Indian car market will be flooded with luxury and eco-friendly cars and the models mentioned will surely make a huge hit.

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The Nissan Leaf, the electric car, will be launched in the Indian market only after it has been launched in many other countries.

It would be first launched in Japan and at the same time it will be launched in the United States and Europe. The Nissan Leaf will surely gain good business from the growing interest for electric or more eco-friendly cars in the American car market and it will not be a different case for Leaf in Europe also. And there is a possibility that China will also be in the list of countries where Leaf will mark its debut.

The Nissan Leaf is been already unveiled at Nissan's headquarters Yokohama in Japan and it will be launched by the end of this year in Japan, US, Europe, and China, but the Indian car buyers need to wait longer to glance the Leaf.

But will the Indian car buyers be really waiting for the Leaf that is expected to come after one or two years, in fact they will not be very keen on it as there will be more options available in the home country by then.

The Indian made Reva cars might pose a good competition for the Leaf as there will be two new models from the brand, NXR and NXG, available in the Indian car market by 2011. Within two years time there might be lot more options such as the Bavina cars, a new Indian Electric car company and Tata, which is expected to launch the electric version of Indica in Norway and might launch same or a different model in India.

Even though the pricing of the new electric cars are not announced, the Leaf will be priced minus the battery and this could be a great advantage for the car against other electric car models. And also the Indian car buyer’s fascination for foreign car models will work favourably for Nissan.

But the question still lingers as to will the hatch be available in the Indian markets by 2012, as the earlier the more beneficial. The Indian car lovers who have not seen much of electric cars in two years will become one among the most demanding electric car customers.

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India’s only electric car maker Maini Reva Electric Car Company (REVA) will be displaying two new cars, the NXR and the NXG, at the 63rd Frankfurt International Motor Show (IAA).

The REVA NXR is a two door four seater family hatchback which is automatic, easy to drive, park and safe. The car comes with an option of solar panels on the top. On the other hand, the REVA NXG is the stylish and sportier edition of the NXR.

The NXR will have a range of 160 km per charge and top speed of 104 kmph, while the NXG has a range of 200 km per charge and top speed of 130 kmph. The REVA NXR is likely to hit the roads by the first quarter next year and the NXG will be available from the first quarter of 2011.

The cars are powered by more forceful engines, lithium ion batteries with longer charge time and patented technologies aimed at removing the anxieties associated with Electric Vehicles (EV). The electric car company has introduced the new REVive telematics technology that can act as an invisible reserve fuel tank in both the cars. Further technology and pricing announcements will be made at the IAA.

These new electric cars are designed by car stylist Dilip Chhabria of the internationally renowned automotive design company DC Design. The cars will go on production by the beginning of 2010. The company is expecting to sell at least 3000 units in three years. Reva plans to introduce the NXR in around 24 countries across Europe and Asia.

At present, REVA has 24 markets in different countries across the global. It has over 3,000 EVs on the road and more than 70 million kilometres of user experience.

The company is building a new ultra low carbon vehicle assembly plant in Bangalore, with a capacity of 30,000 units per annum, to accommodate increased production and is planning to introduce even more measures to ensue that it has the cleanest and greenest production.

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