[slamnos]

Originally Posted by humyum

Well How much is it then ? And Online it says 1.5 lakhs to 2 lakhs is the cost of E20's battery. Could not find any source of 5 year or 80000 km warranty increase? Cannot find it online.

And Isn't the range reduction a worry ?

As on date it is 1.5L, but it is projected that in 5 years it is going to reduce to 90k to 1L, because of fall in L-ion battery prices. Battery warranty is now offered for 5 years/80k KMS can visit the local dealer for info.

Even after 80k KMS we cannot expect any vehicle to work with 100% efficiency, even IC engine vehicles tend to give lesser mileage per litre once driven so much, so if the battery is returning about 85-90 kms per charge later on, I think its fair.

[avi550m]

Originally Posted by slamnos

As on date it is 1.5L, but it is projected that in 5 years it is going to reduce to 90k to 1L, because of fall in L-ion battery prices. Battery warranty is now offered for 5 years/80k KMS can visit the local dealer for info.

The 5 year warranty on the battery has piqued my interest, but I am still wondering how they could come up with the fact that battery prices would reduce in 5 years by 33%. Lithium ion Batteries in laptops have not really reduced in price in the past 5 years. Of course, given that replacement batteries bring in money for the laptop companies, I guess they would not pass on the cost savings to the end-customer.

Still, I guess this is a big question mark which deters many people from taking the step of purchasing an electric vehicle (along with Range Anxiety). Shame it was launched a year after I bought my car. Would have loved to owned it, esp having taken test drive. I think it's a great vehicle for city traffic.

[nishantdlv]

Originally Posted by kamyfc

UPDATE - 08/23/2013 (Self Aware EVA)
I keep learning cool things bout EVA.

This is completely mind blowing kamyfc! These things increase our the bonding with the car!
Your experience with the 'Regen' technology is also interesting, great that Eva took you home beyond her capacity! It's like filling 'Oil' automatically, that too for free!

[slamnos]

Originally Posted by avi550m

The 5 year warranty on the battery has piqued my interest, but I am still wondering how they could come up with the fact that battery prices would reduce in 5 years by 33%. Lithium ion Batteries in laptops have not really reduced in price in the past 5 years. Of course, given that replacement batteries bring in money for the laptop companies, I guess they would not pass on the cost savings to the end-customer.

The battery prices when the vehicle was introduced way back in 2008 in Frankfurt show was almost twice as it is today.

Not to be mistaken with regular Li-on batteries which are used in laptops these batteries are specially made for cars and the price trend is showing 9% decrease every year.

[kamyfc]

Holla People!

Sorry i was out of town for a while and totally forgot bout this!

ICE bashing
There is no ICE based bashing going on anywhere! People have needs and make choices and we all respect that.

My personal opinion is this - For me ICE is a 1920's technology made popular by Henry Ford when he released his Model T. Battery tech was not advanced and electric car died slowly.
It pollutes out cities, it consumes the world best energy source OIL, its complex and needs constant maintenance and it drains our economy.

Thatz the problem of ICE and the world needs to look beyond this outdated piece of crap that is only continuing bcos of the powerful OIL lobby.

Its time to move on people and don't be dependent on these corporations. Look at the bigger picture and think different!

EVs and Coal
Lot of u say u r polluting the world elsewhere and raise a red flag. There are huge energy efficiency benefits even if u drive on coal. Check online and u find lots of papers.

But with an EV u have a choice right away.
Add Solar Panels, drive on free clean electrons.

With ICE u r always dependent on OIL companies, Govt and Middle East.
Here u have choices and makes u independent.

Hydrogen
Some of you say Hydrogen is the future. We will need a source of hydrogen to charge the fuel cell. The reliable and steady source of hydrogen will have to be a hydrogen pipe line coming from a hydrogen purifier company. This is impossible for now because we do not have hydrogen pumps at local gas stations or hydrogen pipe lines coming into our houses.
It will also take billions of dollars of investment and a long time for all local gas stations to have a hydrogen pump.
And we dont want tax payers money on that.

With electricity, the infrastructure is already there, every home has a plug point.

2 doors on the e2o
Very comfy to get in and out. I have not faced issues.
But if any of you want to drive old people, it will be tough for them. Its a valid point to note for people who wanna buy it.


MArketing for Mahindra!
Someone suggested am marketing for Mahidndra.
i can only LOL at thier vivid imgination.
Mahindra paying me would be nice

To you point [humyum]
Range reduction is not a worry for me. My most driving is around 40kms per day so when it gets down to that level, thatz when i shall consider changing the battery.

Charging at home
arup.misra - to your point - guys u have no idea how convenient this is
I dont have to stand in lines in a petrol bunk.
I just plug it in after work and i just charge it twice a week.
We can also program it to start charging only after 12 am. Thatz when the ambient temperature is cool and the grid too has excess power then.
Use my iPhone, program teh schedule and it charges at 12 midnight till around 4 am, when plugged in.
Very convenient.


Note from Mod : Please use proper spellings and avoid the use of SMS language (u, tht, etc). Do see THIS THREAD before continuing. Thanks.

[kamyfc]

Originally Posted by slamnos

The battery prices when the vehicle was introduced way back in 2008 in Frankfurt show was almost twice as it is today.

Not to be mistaken with regular Li-on batteries which are used in laptops these batteries are specially made for cars and the price trend is showing 9% decrease every year.

They have dropped in half in the last 4 years. Experts in the field say that they will drop further in the next 4 years.Hopefully soon, we will reach a point where the incremental cost of an electric vehicle will compare to that of an internal combustion engine and we will start having vehicles with higher ranges.

[kamyfc]

The Numbers: August 2013

1 kWh = 1 unit of electricity
1 unit = Rs 5 (including taxes and other charges)


All Home Charging Done Using: Mahindra charge point plugged into a 15 AMP socket
Total km Driven at Month End: 1035 km (80 kms on odometer at delivery)
Km Driven in Month: 955 km
Electric Power Used for Charging in Month: 95 kWh (measured at wall power source)
Public Charging in Month, Power Use: 0 kWh
Charging at Home in Month, Power Use: 95 kWh
Energy Efficiency, Month: 10.05 km/kWh
Total Charging Energy Used, Lifetime: 95 kWh
Energy Efficiency, Lifetime: 10.05 km/kWh
Number of Home Charging Days in Month: 9 nights
Household Power Used for Month: 73 kWh (without car charging)
Total Power Used for Month: 168 kWh (includes car charging)
Electric Bill Amount: Rs 840
Cost of charging the CAR - August : Rs 475
Cost for Charging Cars, Lifetime - August: Rs 475
Maintenance and Repair Costs For 2013 Car to Date: Rs 0
Average km per Driving Day in August: 30 km
Longest Day's Driving in August: 71 km (Couple of Mall trips to the other side of Pune
Number of times, i charged outside my home: 1. We charged EVA in a hotel near Mulshi lake for FREE!!
Unexpected Low Charge and Unable to Reach Destination: Never

So there u have it guys. I spent Rs 475 to ferry myself all month in the comfort of a car.
Even Bikes cant give u this economy.

[kamyfc]

The Numbers: September 2013

1 kWh = 1 unit of electricity
1 unit = Rs 5 (including taxes and other charges)


All Home Charging Done Using: Mahindra charge point plugged into a 15 AMP socket
Total km Driven at Month End: 2140 km
Km Driven in Month: 1185 km
Electric Power Used for Charging in Month: 118.5 kWh (measured at wall power source)
Public Charging in Month, Power Use: 0 kWh
Charging at Home in Month, Power Use: 118.5 kWh
Energy Efficiency, Month: 10.04 km/kWh
Total Charging Energy Used, Lifetime: 213.5 kWh
Energy Efficiency, Lifetime: 10.045 km/kWh
Number of Home Charging Days in Month: 12 nights
Household Power Used for Month: 91.5 kWh (without car charging)
Total Power Used for Month: 210 kWh (includes car charging)
Electric Bill Amount: Rs 1050
Cost of charging the CAR - September : Rs 592.5
Cost for Charging Cars, Lifetime - : Rs 475 + 592.5 = Rs 1067.5
Maintenance and Repair Costs For 2013 Car to Date: Rs 0
Average km per Driving Day in September: 30 km
Longest Day's Driving in August: 92 km
(Our Lavasa Trip. A distance of 110km covered just using 92 km worth of energy. A new kind of energy efficiency is observed)
Number of times, i charged outside my home: 0
Unexpected Low Charge and Unable to Reach Destination:
During our Lavsa trip, we had 8km worth of energy left. But it was not unexpected!

So there u have it guys. I spent Rs 592 to ferry myself all month in the comfort of a car and covered
1185 km.

[kamyfc]

UPDATE - Software Update and Battery Warranty

Mahindra guys called me last month and told me to get my car to the Mahindra service station.

They told me that they will make some software changes and also fix some issues on the door.

One important software update was
Earlier when we plugged in the charging cable and used my mobile app to start the AC, the power was being pulled in from the Battery.
But with the software update in the controller, the power is now pulled in from the mains.

I feel this is a really cool update. This is the only car in India, where a customer gets additional functionality after purchase. This can happen as the e20 a total digital car.

Also they had to fix something on the door handle.
Apart from that they added Misc software bug fixes (like Some customers reported invalid SMS's etc)

The software guys, i met were courteous and professional. some of the guys were working with the REVA team since 1998. Which is really cool.
Nice bunch of people.

Mahindra called me and informed that my Battery warranty would get extended to 5 years.
So that is a nice plus

[kamyfc]

Here are some interesting observations after using the car for almost 5 months

• EVA is a head turner and people ask me questions bout the car everyday. The kind of interest generated by the car is staggering. This shows people are interested in EVs and want to get away from this mad OIL dependence. There is a market for this. I feel the other automobile manufacturers like Tata, Maruti, Hyundai really need to get into the EV business.

• People also instantly recognize the car by the name 'Reva'. No one uses 'e2o'. Reva is a good brand, i wonder why Mahindra went for a different name.

• My 'fuel' expenses is coming upto Rs 500 per month and i use the car for more than 1000 km a month. The is easily saving me Rs 5000 every month as compared to using a Petrol car.
  You do the math and then realize that in a year, this car will give you Rs 60,000 just on fuel savings. Also, i did not factor the maintenance an average ICE based car will go through.

• So if people are worried that they are spending Rs 6.5 Lakh to Rs 7.5 Lakh (based on the city) to buy the e2o, they can safely go ahead with the purchase. This is because the extra amount of
  Rs 1 Lakh they pay over a petrol car will be recouped pretty soon.

• After a crazy day's work, you get inside the e2o and start driving. You shut the windows and don't turn on the AC for a while. The silence is so soothing. The car makes no noise and vibrations and the outside noise is cut off. Its like you are cocooned in your own world.
  Honestly, the silence is therapeutic!

[slamnos]

Originally Posted by kamyfc

People also instantly recognize the car by the name 'Reva'. No one uses 'e2o'. Reva is a good brand, i wonder why Mahindra went for a different name.

Mahindra Reva now is a company hence they could not have used Reva as the car name, and also its Mahindra's tradition to name their car ending with "O".

The "E" in E2O specifies energy from the Sun, "2" translates as "to" and "O" here refers to Oxygen, hence it means you are using Energy from Sun to Keep Mother Earth clean. You must now be happy doing so

[sumannandy]

Your thread really provides a lot of information and indeed the savings is great. But the range is really low. If it was a hybrid, or used petrol as alternate energy source, I feel it would have been sold at a higher number.

[Shreyans_Jain]

A very good thread, rated 5 stars.

A lot of noise is being made about the 2 doors, which by default make the rear seats that much less usable for many.
I think ease of ingress and egress should quite similar to the third(front facing)row of UVs like Scorpio, Xylo and Innova. In fact, it should be better considering the aperture is wider. @kamfyc Can you confirm?

Also the point regarding having to charge the car daily or every other day. How is that different from CNG fueled vehicles? What's more, nobody needs to wait for half and hour in queues. The charging is done from the convenience of your home, while you sleep.

If and when the subsidy materializes, the e2o can certainly become a lot more attractive. That, and a power steering option can make it a fantastic second car.

[undead]

This is a wonderful ownership thread.

What I feel is that this vehicle should be introduced for sale in more rural towns where the distance travel is very less than the range given.
For eg : if I want to go for shopping in my town I can travel a maximum of 10kms . My town size itself is a maximum of 3 kms. Also people use their car to go out with their familes to hotels or temples etc which is near. For going to office or business place , they use two wheelers as the time travelled is 5 mins . There are no signals in my town too.
Another point ( which is not legal) - some owners in my town including me can charge the e2o for FREE as we have free agriculture electricity . Initially I planned to purchase this e2o along with my friend, but they didn't launch in tamilnadu yet and the cost seemed high and bought an i10 in the end.

Mahindra should try to bring this vehicle to more rural areas.

[slamnos]

Originally Posted by undead

What I feel is that this vehicle should be introduced for sale in more rural towns where the distance travel is very less than the range given.

But I doubt the vehicle will be accepted at 8L in most Rural places, the vehicle is having a tough time at Metro cities itself, so it might be a dicey call launching in Rural India.