India to debut world’s cheapest car

NEW DELHI

The streets of Indian cities are clogged with noisy conveyances - hulking buses, cars, carts pulled by braying bullocks and motorbikes pyramided with passengers. Commuters idle angrily in traffic for hours each day.

With a long string of mass transit projects, the government is trying to solve the problem. But many Indians yearn for the status, peace and luxury of a car they can call their own.

Tata Motors in Mumbai is set to answer that call by rolling out the world’s cheapest car in April. The company has global ambitions for its $2,000 Tata Nano, a gasoline-powered, air-conditioned five-seater. But environmental activists say the vehicle will be a big polluter of India´s already smog-filled air.

So why isn’t India’s other automotive wonder - the electric Reva - getting the same attention? The Reva is the world’s most successful electric vehicle. It has been on the market longer, sold more cars and been driven more miles than any other electric vehicle in the world.

The Reva, manufactured near the city of Bangalore, has a sales tally of at least 3,000 cars since it was launched in 2001. It has been driven a combined 34 million miles in 20 major cities in Asia, Europe and South America.

But despite patented technologies, government subsidies, a groundswell of interest in electric vehicles and innovative marketing practices, the Reva is unlikely to put a dent in the global market with as much force as the Nano because the environmentally friendly, near-silent plug-in car costs three times as much as the Nano and has only a limited appeal for cash- and credit-strapped first-time car buyers.

“It is very much a second car in the household,” said Chetan Maini, the company´s chief technology officer, who once raced a solar-powered vehicle across Australia.

Mr. Maini points out that five years ago, 22 percent of cars sold in India were a second vehicle; today that number is nearly 40 percent. “The highest growth is in the second-car buyer [market].”

Mr. Maini, who has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, worked on electric cars in California. He relocated to Bangalore in 1999 after the California Air Resources Board reversed a 1990 mandate that 10 percent of new cars sold in the state should be nonpolluting. In India, he launched the Reva in 2001, exporting to Europe three years later.

If the Reva were sold in the United States, it would be significantly cheaper - about half the cost - of General Motors’ Volt, the highly anticipated electric-gas vehicle that is expected to reach showrooms in November 2010. Analysts estimate the Volt will cost between $30,000 and $40,000 - the price of 15 Tata Nanos.

About the size of a standard Indian auto-rickshaw, the 8-foot long, two-door Reva hatchback seats two comfortably - more uncomfortably.

The current version of the car, the Reva-i has a top speed of about 50 mph and requires eight hours for a full charge and 2 1/2 hours for an 80 percent charge. Long charge times make owning the car a challenge for buyers who live in apartment buildings and without access to a dedicated outlet. The car has a range of about 50 miles on a full charge.

The price of the Reva varies, according to the country in which its driven. In New Delhi, considerable tax breaks, rebates and subsidies bring the car’s price to about $6,000, making it one of the most affordable places to buy the car. In Ireland, it costs closer to $20,000.

The newest version of the Reva, due out in May or June, with lithium-ion batteries and a solar panel on the roof, will cost about $14,500 in India. Unlike the much-anticipated GM Volt, due out late next year, the Reva is all electric, with no gas option. Reva sold about 500 cars last year and expects to triple sales this year.

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