Prototypes of an indeginously developed “green sports car” that claims to cover 1000 kilometers with a single charge of it’s batteries, stole the show at Gujarat’s first Auto Show held at Gandhinagar on Friday which was otherwise bereft of any excitement in form of new launches from automobile manufacturers.
The prototype which is awaiting the approval of Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), grabbed the maximum eyeballs after it’s Ahmedabad-based maker Golden Arrow Wireless Pvt Ltd showcased with a “Made in Gujarat” tag alongside foreign and Indian automobile manufacturers like Honda, BMW, Rolls Royce, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, M&M, and Hyundai at ‘AutoShow Gujarat 2014’ organised at Mahatma Mandir.
“There are three differenct versions of this car which can attain a maximum of 150 kilometers per hour. The ones that run on the conventional lead acid batteries, lithium ion batteries and the third one on super capacitors. Our car can clock 1000 kilometers in a single charge,” said Shashi Vyas, who claimed to have developed the car at the company’s facility at Aslali in Ahmedabad.
“The lead acid batteries that weigh about 300 kilograms (120 volt) can take about eight hours for a single recharge, the lithium ion weighing about 120 kgs takes about two hours and 20 kilogram supercapacitors can do the job in five minutes. These cars could cost anywhere between Rs15-25 lakh,” said Vyas who described himself as an aerospace engineer.
Vyas’s company has already entered into an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the Madhya Pradesh government for setting up a plant to manufacture these electric sports car. “We have been allocated 100 acres of land for this purpose. However, we are looking to set up a similar plant in Gujarat as well, because this is where we are based. We are looking to raise the funds for our project through venture capitalists,” he told mediapersons at the event.
Meanwhile, Rashmi Urdhwareshe, director of ARAI who was present at the event confirmed that her organisation is examining the prototype sent by Vyas. “We are yet to give any clearance as we do not have any set rules for sports cars in our country and electric sports cars will require a totally different set of rules.”
The three-day show however, had no new launches of new models or prototypes from any of the car or bike manufacturers who were among the 70-odd exhibitors at the event. “We had requested them to display some prototypes at the event, but the companies declined saying that this time of the year was not suited for any new launches,” said an official of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) who had organised the event.