[Aditya]

Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. has announced an easy ownership programme for the e2o. Called "Goodbye Fuel, Hello Electric", the scheme is said to make ownership of the e2o more affordable.

The programme separates the initial acquisition cost of the car and the cost of the battery and its maintenance. The car can now be acquired for a down payment of Rs. 4.99 lakh, which is on average, about Rs. 1.7 lakh lesser than before. Under the scheme, the owner of an e2o has to pay a monthly energy fee starting from Rs. 2,599/- which allows him to drive the car 50,000 km over a period of five years (800 km per month). This gives him protection against rising fuel prices and inflation, since he pays a fixed running cost for five years. The ownership of the battery lies with the company, which will provide 24x7 assistance and guarantees a courtesy car during the battery repair period.

Link to Team-BHP News Article

[Contrapunto]

Excellent initiative. I sure hope this drive up sales for an excellent urban product. Its ideal for the home-office-home run which is all that a large percentage of car users do. I wish I had this scheme when I was buying my car last year, but I do sincerely hope this succeeds. Next car, maybe ?

[i74js]

Why there is a limitation of 800 km a month? If I get it correct, the responsibility of charging the car is with the owner and M & M will only extend warranty on the battery. How does the equation change when the owner covers more distance in a month or does not want any kind of restrictions on the usage pattern.


Can someone please advise on this?

[tbppjpr]

Originally Posted by Aditya

It enables the owner of an e2o to pay a monthly energy fee starting from Rs. 2,599/- which allows him to drive the car 50,000 km over a period of five years

2599 X 12 X 5 = Rs. 1,55,940/-
Cost per kilometer : Rs. 3.11/-

Fuel cost per kilometer in a normal diesel car :
(assuming 60/- per ltr and FE of 17 km/ltr) Rs 3.52/- per kilometer
(assuming 100/- per ltr and FE of 17 km/ltr) Rs 5.88/- per kilometer

Add additional 15,000/- per year for maintenance in the said diesel car, it will translate into Rs 1.5 per km in 5 years for 50,000 kms.

Now is the electricity recharge cost included in the Mahindra's offer or owner will be recharging the car at home? If owner will be recharging the car using home electricity then where is the real saving? If not then where and how much recharging bunks are there?

[swiftnfurious]

That makes it Rs. 1,56,000/- for 5 years. So what happens after 5 years?

[Voyager-1]

By offering the battery on 'rental', the ex-showroom price and consequently, the Insurance and Registration charges are also reduced.

Coming to the battery rental, the monthly rental translates to Rs.1.56L to Rs.1.8L over a period of 5 years. This sounds like a good EMI option with little or no interest, considering that the current battery price would be around the same range.

The current on-road price in Bangalore is 7.7L, which should come down to 6L. Now this looks like a competitive price in B1/B2 hatch back segment (Of course with monthly 'rental' cost).

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

Now is the electricity recharge cost included in the Mahindra's offer or owner will be recharging the car at home? If owner will be recharging the car using home electricity then where is the real saving? If not then where and how much recharging bunks are there?

I guess that the earlier offer of reimbursing the monthly electricity (running) cost, would be withdrawn with this new battery rental offer.

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

That makes it Rs. 1,56,000/- for 5 years. So what happens after 5 years?

Ideally, Mahindra should offer a new battery at the prevailing rental prices after 5 years. Assuming that this scheme becomes successful now and it is still offered after 5 years.

[sun]

I don't know how good is the economics in this deal for the buyer.

Other than that the Insurance and Registration amount is going to come down and may be the added benefit of the part time payment, the total amount that we end up paying is approximately same / more than the cost of battery during replacement.

I am an user of a Reva i from Aug 2011. A new lead acid battery set for it costs around 85000/-. So a Li Ion one may cost only within 150000/- and it may well last for 5 years.

Rather than deals like this, Mahindra should have pushed the Govt for subsidy for electric vehicles.

[ghodlur]

Although in India the battery operated vehicle usage is very very nascent stage but nevertheless its a good beginning considering that the future lies in the hybrid or electric vehicles.

Does M&M provide assistance only for the battery, what about the regular maintenance? How much will that cost? The registration & insurance costs are the real and only savers IMO. What RSA does M&M offer for Reva?

BTW any ideas what the battery capacity in mAH is?

[arup.misra]

Not sure how the economics work out here.

End of the day you'd be paying = 2599 * 60 = 155,940 + 499,000 (upfront) = 654,940 for the car. The only saving I see is in registration & insurance. Again this can be bargained with the dealer. e2o isn't flying off the shelves

Question - What if someone decides to take a bank loan for the upfront payment. Under normal circumstances the car is hypothecated with the bank. However if the battery is rent this means *technically* M&M owns it so what remains hypothecated with a bank is a "dead" more like a car without engine!!!