Electric Indica to debut in Norway by 2009

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New Delhi, Sep 3: What could be the first of its kind in the Indian automobile industry; Tata Motors' on Wednesday unveiled the prototype of the electric version of Indica that would be first launched in Norway in collaboration with the company's partner there.

Though, Reva Electric already has an electric vehicle in India but Indica is expected to be a bigger and high powered vehicle than Reva given the fact that it's a four door vehicle driven by lithium-ion batteries.

“Norway has strict stringent norms as well as adequate infrastructure for electric cars. Hence, we will launch the electric Indica in Norway in 2009,” says Ravi Kant, managing director, Tata Motors.

According to Kant, there is also a possibility of launching the electric version of Tata Ace, the sub 1-tonne commercial vehicle that was unveiled at the recently held auto show in Spain, in the US market. “The electric Indica, which is currently under development at our European technical centre, will initially be launched in countries in Europe followed by India. However, it is difficult to say when would the vehicle be launched in India as there is no mass production of the lithium ion batteries that are currently being used in the prototype of Indica EV,” says S Ravishankar, senior general manager (Engineering Systems), Tata Motors. He adds that the vehicle, once launched, would be better than Reva not just in terms of performance and space but would also not compare with it in terms of price.The prototype of Indica EV that is under testing stages in overseas markets is powered by two-packs of battery system and can run for 175-200 km on a full charge.