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-   -   Electric car to hit roads in Sept 2009: Ratan Tata (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/electric-cars/59855-electric-car-hit-roads-sept-2009-ratan-tata-2.html)

@Mooza - Very simple, go for something better than Nano if you can afford, or stick with Nano. No point waiting for electric cars, especially with Tata; atleast Reva is worth waiting.

Tata has come out with a new electric car concept. I personally find the design cute.

"Stylish, comfortable, practical, fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly -- that's prototype of a $20,000 electric car from the Tata Technologies (part of the Tata group), a leading global provider of engineering services."

Further news at:

Now, a low cost electric car from Tata - Rediff.com Business

Source & Full Article:
Tata Motors To Build Electric Car Worth Rs.10L!

The Tata Indica EV has been in the news for the past two years and so has the Tata Pixel concept but things don't seem to have moved anywhere. Nobody knows to what one should attribute the apparent lethargy and lack of urgency to look at research into electric cars. Instead of wasting crores in fuel subsidies, use them for research to get decent batteries on which these cars can run. The government has even stopped subsiding the Reva and the electric scooter called Yo. So much so that they are on the verge of shutdown. Give me a decent sized hatch like the Indica with a range of about 80-100 kms on a charge and I will park my oil burner for the weekends while daily commute and city pottering will be on the electric car. Of course the flipside to that would be much lesser tax revenues collected through sales of petroleum products.

Govt always talks of the burden its facing because of oil usage/import. It nevers talks of the amount of money in taxes it makes when someone buys fuel. I am sure there will be some additional tax / cess on electric cars. Govt will not spare anything.

I really doubt whether electric cars would be a hit in india. In many parts, there are frequent power cuts and taking 8 hours to charge would not be practical. Sometimes I get to spend less than 8hours at home, before i need to go to office the next day. People forget to charge thier cellphone battery regularly, forget charging the car.

I may sound negative, but this will be another sales dud from Tata.

You need a spare pack and six pack strength to lift the batteries :)

I hope manufacturers look into all aspects before jumping and saying "we have one". The Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf have turned to be duds and the cost recovery takes 15 years.

I agree - Even in adanced countries like europe & usa, electric cars have failed. Some TV Anchor ventured out to drive an electric car between two european cities but almost failed. IN Europe, the shopping mall to which you drive will provide you power. Heck, they do not even charge you for Parkking. If shopping malls were to offer electric charge points, they would charge as high as 500/- per hour.

I regret to say this but in my patriotic pathetic country, before providing any service, the first intent is to harrass the people and second is to make money through some scam. :Frustrati

I have seen charging points at Form mall in Bangalore and did not see any rate tag for charging.

Need to see if the Reva belongs to someone in the management of the mall :)

Just wait till electric cars are as popular as Petrol hatches :).

Look at this logic - Big Bazaar chennai charges 30/- for parking. When I buy stuff at Big Bazaar - How do they expect me to carry it, on my head ? Autos - Less spoken the better.

I personally feel Parking should NOT be charged for if i show a puchase bill from that Mall. When a basic amenity like parking is charged for, Electricity will definetly be charged for in future.

You can see the pictures here, It is close to basement lift.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ere-we-go.html

Having an electric car is good for the environment when our electricity is also generated from renewable sources, not from coal fired power plants.

All I intend to say is that I dont see any way Tata can claim environmental moral high ground for selling this car here. This is before we get into logistical and other subjective issues.

Here in Pune, they deduct the parking costs from your bill at the payment counter when you present the parking ticket. You have to ask for it, nobody asks at the counter if you paid for parking. Check if this is the case in Chennai too.

Wow !! its time to shift to Pune. :D.

nope in Chennai and at least all malls i have visited in Mumbai, they do NOT adjust parking charges against bills.

On the contrary, once i wanted to give the car to a detailer who has his shop in the approach ramp of "ampa mall" chennai. He said i would have to pay aprking even if i wait and drive off the car as soon as the washing is finished. Needless to say, i didnt get my car detailed there.

Biased parking is there in Chennai airport, where premium vehicles are charged more than ordinary vehicles. In such a case, once electric cars are popular, there would definetly be a new parking charge for electric cars.

Our highly intelligent rule makers will think "Electric cars dont pay for petrol, why not fleece the parking charges". No one will think "Electric cars reduce pollution, why not give some benefit to them".

That's a bit inaccurate, to say the least. Electric cars are just starting to pick up momentum in Europe, and same in US too. As a newer technology and with so much bad experiences with batteries in phones and laptops, there are a lot of skeptics out there, and hence the take up is slow. It's an emerging technology, and I for one am sure that in 20 years, you would look back and wonder why on earth anyone would run noisy, vibby engines that needs so much maintenance.

PS: Tata's eCar design - why oh why?! Why can't they design them like normal cars? What's wrong in designing it just like their own Nano? Look at the state of that yoke!!!

I beg to differ here. Hybrids are popular in US more than "pure" electric cars like Reva. Charging points are far and few in US & Europe. Only a couple of recognized supermarkets have it. Others Malls dont. The only practical use that i see is Home-Supermarket-Home runs and that too outside India. I do not see that it will be a hit in india.