Discussing the Reva electric car

Hello all,

I am a new member to carwale. I have been researching various models and would like to buy a green car. I am fascinated by the 'Reva' car and most probably would buy one. The cost of the car is around 4 lakhs, but running costs are extremely low.

If you drive 1000 kms per month (12000 kms/yr), you would need 1000 liters of petrol assuming a fuel efficiency of 12 kmpl in the city. This means 55000 Rs. as the cost of petrol is around 55 Rs.

For the Reva, the cost per km (as the company claims) is about 40 ps/km. Let's say it is 60 ps on an average. That means you spend (0.60 x 12000 = ) 7200 Rs. per year on running costs. There is a saving of about 47,800 Rs.!!! In 4 years (4 x 47800), the car pays for itself!!

Now, there are NO moving parts in this car. A normal car needs - engine, valves, camshaft, crankshaft, water pump, radiator, fans, carburator, etc. etc. The electric car does NOT have any of these parts! So, there is very less maintenance.

And it is AUTOMATIC transmission!! Imagine the comfort in city driving ...


Bottom line - It is a high price that u pay initially, but is beneficial in the long run. And ... the most important thing -- you are reducing the pollution, saving our mother earth!

Looking forward to comments/criticisms.

-- Ashish

Hello all,

I am surprised that no one has responded to this thread yet, and don't understand why! Am I completely wrong in analysing the costs or are there any more issues that I don't understand. Please help!

AJO

I wouldnt recommend REVA. While it appears to have low running cost, you have to replace batteries at cost of 50-60k within 2-3 yrs. This is coupled with non-existent safety features (in UK, it is sold as a quadcycle, not even a car as they couldnt pass safety norms). Also the fit and finish is awful to say atleast.

Thanks Mihir, I'm glad someone replied. Well, I asked the Reva engineers and the batteries have to be replaced after 50000 kms. That could be 5 yrs if u drive 10000 kms a yr. Besides, it does not have other moving parts which cause maintenance issues ... isn't that a money saver?

Regarding the safety aspect ... It is a city car, and one would be a fool to take it on the highway. For indian city driving, it has passed all crash tests by ARAI. UK is a different issue ... cos they have much higher speeds ... there is no way it will be a 'car' in the UK.

Well as far as the safety aspect is concerned, this is sold as a city car even there. And if a BMTC bus hits you in this, i doubt whether you will come out alive.

Besides this, there are moving parts. Electric motor. transmission etc are all moving parts and would need maintanence.

Also, have a look at the resale value of the car. I doubt you will have any decent resale value for it while a normal hatchback will get you some resale money.

Funny how you say "If a BMTC bus hits you ...". I understand ... it would not be safe in that case, but hey! what are the chances that that could happen?? And what are the chances that I would survive in a Maruti 800!

I am very fascinated by the electric car concept, because of the rising pollution and rising petrol prices.

Anyways ... I see your point about the resale value. But, if I use the car for 10 years (which is a very common thing in India) only as a city car, the car will more than pay for itself as the cost of petrol rises. Older cars usually have problems with ignition, fuel spray, exhaust systems, rust, etc., which wont be the case for this car.

I guess I am willing to take the risk of losing some money for saving the environment. So I will buy a Reva soon.

I have picture that shows what would happen to a suzuki alto when hit by a dump truck from behind. Pictures are not pretty. The point is in some cases a poorly designed car is worse than a motorbike because it actually pins you inside. The perception that the 800(maruthi) and similar cars are safe is a myth. One great car that is of similar (reva) size is the smart car and it does really well in crash test. But it uses conventional design with lots of high strength steels.

It will all depend on the speed of impact. I believe the reva has a space frame construction with plastic panels. It would be interesting if they shared their design. A well designed space frame can be a very efficient replacement for conventional designed Body.

Reva should be compared to driving a motorcycle and not to a large sedan. It makes sense for running errands around the city and can only be a second car.

As far as pollution, the jury is still not fully out. While the electric car does eliminate pollution in urban areas it does depend on large powerstations that are not exactly clean. Also batteries are not made very clean. In that sense it is an improvement but still not the ultimate solution. The ultimate solution has to be fuel cells etc.

I agree the Reva is intriguing. Great job by the engineers. As such it is worth supporting if you can afford too. By incorporating some good engineering principles it can be safe. I respect the guys who created  this a lot more than the guys that sell large innefficient SUVs like the safari and the scorpio.

Regarding pollution. Most electric power generation in India does not use oil (Read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_in_India). Coal, hydro, nuclear, solar, and natural gas are typical sources for generating electricity. Power generation plants, even coal burning ones, are inherently more efficient and less polluting than vehicles due to economies of scale and the ability to more efficiently remove pollutants from a smaller number of much larger fixed locations.

Also, an electric car is far more efficient than a gasoline car, so the amount of pollution generated by producing the electricity to drive an EV a given distance is much less than the pollution from the gasoline to drive an internal combustion car the same distance. Whereas a combustion engine car – even those powered by hydrogen, ethanol, and biodiesel – can make use of around 20 percent of the energy that it consumes, a battery electric car like this one is able to put more than 80 percent of the energy it consumes to use in moving the car down the road.

Hi Ajo, I do not for one second disagree that electric is the right interim step. I want to put some data in perspective

In india today of the ~125GW of generation 55% is thermal coal based and 26% is Hydro, 10% is gas and Nuclera is 2.7%

Chances are the power in bangalore is from Thermal power station since Karnataka also has similar percentage of generation.

Following are some interesting numbers. For a Reva at advertised 40P per Km and assuming annual driving of 29200KM. I calculated the following

Total units KWhr consumption-3893

Annual coad consumption (Indian coal)- 3156 Kg

Appr total CO2 emission - 3.4 Tonnes, Apart from this there is also reasonable amount of SOx and Nox since Sulphur can be 3% of the coal and Nitrogen is about 8% by weight.  There is particulate matter too.

Add to this in southern region (CEA report) we get 20.19% tranmission losses and in Northern Region this is as high as 40%

For a Petrol car the CO2 can range between 8Tonnes to 4 Tonnes depending on size and if it is a hybrid etc.

In addition the cost of creating Batteries is a very energy intensive process. (do not have any numbers)

So while I agree this is a great step, it is not the best. The best scenario for a plug in electric would be that you plug it in and get power from a Hydro generating station.

sorry some factual mistakes

Sulphur is 0.3 % and not 3%

Nitrogen is .8 % and not 8% as stated.