‘Using electric vehicles can check global warming’

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Gold the most preferred investment

: vehicles, too.

Why should it all be done in the first place?

The transport sector contributes 23% of the carbon dioxide emission globally. If we have to check global warming, the electric vehicle is an obvious answer. It has zero or low emissions and uses available power sources.

Wouldn’t zero emissions be possible only if the charging is done from renewables ?

Zero emissions may be possible only from renewables, but electric vehicles have much lower emissions even on using electricity from conventional sources. We have an emission of 60-70 gm of carbon dioxide per km against an emission of 300-400 gm of carbon dioxide per km emitted by regular cars.

How economical is it?

Reva consumes nine units of electricity for a full charge that lasts up to 80 km. So, it costs 40 paise per km, which comes out to be about 10% of a conventional car. Typically a person drives the whole day, returns home in the evening and plugs into a 230-volt, 15-ampere socket. People can also charge the car in offices, malls and parking lots. It takes five to six hours to charge fully.

Are you doing anything to improve the performance and efficiency of the battery?

Everything is possible. We are testing a lot of batteries that are future ready.

What are your future plans?

Our new facility with a capacity of 30,000 units will be completed by mid-2008. The construction has been undertaken under LEEDs guidelines (a green building rating system developed by the US Green Building Council) to reduce the consumption of energy in construction and maintenance of the building. Besides, there will be solar charging, solar water heating, rainwater harvesting, natural ventilation and lighting.

What are you aiming at?

We are a global pioneer in electric vehicles. We have over13 years of experience and registered about 10 key patents. There are 2,500 Revas in 13 countries on the road today. Ours is the lowest priced electric vehicle in the world. We are planning to bring in a new variant every year. We will continue to develop newer technologies. We want to offer solutions for mass transport in India. Right now we export 70% of our production. We want to make it 50: 50.

If there is such a compelling business case for electric vehicles, why are not others jumping into the fray?