Reva - Electric Car Success in India

What looks like a car, drives like a car, but doesn’t pollute like a car? It’s Reva, the new battery-run, two-door electric passenger car, now on a street near you. Coupled with India’s accelerated economic growth over the past decade has been tremendous growth in air pollution, 70 percent of which is attributed to cars, buses and other vehicles. The cost of health impacts from urban air pollution is estimated to be about $500 million per year for each of India’s major cities. As a result, USAID is working with Indian and U.S. private sectors to initiate the India Zero Emission Transportation (IZET) program, mitigating the health impacts of urban transportation.

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One of those mitigating measures is Reva. Designed to fill the niche between the two wheelers and traditional, gas-guzzling cars, Reva comfortably seats two adults and two children. The car’s battery has a life-span of 40,000 kilometers, and on a single charge, the Reva can be driven for 80 kilometers. It’s price-approximately US $5,000-is competitive in India’s current car market.

According to Dr. C.C. Chan, past president of the World Electric Vehicle Association, “Reva is the cheapest commercially produced, reliable electric car in the world.”

Since the car was unveiled in April, more than 300 have been sold. In 2003, the Reva Electric Car Company expects to sell ten times that amount in India and to branch out overseas, all generating zero pollution