[carboy]

Originally Posted by hrishig

But from where the electricity is going to come?

Even if the electricity is generated at a power plant which uses petroleum products, these big plants are far more efficient at generating electricity than a car engine. Other than that pollution can be localized. It can also be reduced by using scrubbers & other devices.
Plus lots of power plants are hydroelectric. We will also have more nuclear power plants soon.

[raj.barcode]

thats a nice move by the govt. ; this will surely help some buyers to look into electric vehicles and also manufacturers to work on them more

[srishiva]

They have set a limit on the amount they would dole out. Have to see if it gets utilised fully.

[ananth_iy]

Rs23,000 crore electric-vehicles plan cleared

Now this is some news! Is Anand Mahindra working overtime in the corridors of power to ensure there is a market for the new Reva when it hits the showrooms next month?

"S. Sundareshan, secretary of the ministry of heavy industries, said New Delhi would provide around Rs13,000-14,000 crore of the total investment in the plan, with companies providing the remainder.

"We will put in some specific schemes with regard to subsidy element, R&D, demand creation and infrastructure," Sundareshan said."

http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report...leared_1734390

[abybabykcc]

I've always wondered, if you do not live or work on the ground floor, how do you access a charging point for your electric vehicle? Is there a way around it?

[speedmiester]

Wonderful news.

Hopefully this will reduce the prices of Reva to the level of Tata Nano and Maruti 800. I will definitely put in my money for one.
Reva has all the right qualities to make it a perfect urban commuter car, but because of it's high price, many people including me, don't consider it as an option.

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by abybabykcc

I've always wondered, if you do not live or work on the ground floor, how do you access a charging point for your electric vehicle? Is there a way around it?

The only way is to pull out the cable and have a plug point connection near your parking lot.

In our office, in the basement, they have provided a charging point for electric cars.

I think, there are several office like this out there.


And about the news, I think something is better than nothing. The only request to M&M is to make the Reva look like a "car". I agree looks are personal, but still

They should definitely take a class from the TATA (nano) team.

In this 23K crore, how much is gonna be the benefit of common men? I for sure think, providing subsidy while common people buying such car, will greatly help. Atleast, relax the road tax for those cars (I guess we do pay, right?) and see the difference.

[prajwalkashyap]

Originally Posted by abybabykcc

I've always wondered, if you do not live or work on the ground floor, how do you access a charging point for your electric vehicle? Is there a way around it?

A friend has pulled a cable from his apartment electric meter to his parking lot and the socket is locked inside a wooden box which are fixed to a piller facing the parking slot. This is better than another friend who has pulled a cable all the way from 6th floor! I think there would be a lot of transmission loss that way but he says it works fine.

Prajwal

[el lobo 6061]

Great news, finally electric cars will get the much needed boost. For within city use electric cars are the best bet. Use during the day and in night it charges up. Less pollution within city which is another benefit, no PUC too, no visit to fuel pump and no worries with increasing petrol/diesel cost.

If somehow electric cars start coming with longer range of 500 km with quick charging of 1/2 hour then they can easily replace combustion based cars.

Originally Posted by abybabykcc

I've always wondered, if you do not live or work on the ground floor, how do you access a charging point for your electric vehicle? Is there a way around it?

The best way is, most people have 1-Phase meter box and not 3-Phase box. So from electric meter make a extension to the parking space of yours and set up a water proof box with a 16A socket with a MCB. So if any problem, MCB trips and doesn't cause problem. Legrand have water proof casing for the same, but no provision for physical lock. Hope it helps.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

If somehow electric cars start coming with longer range of 500 km with quick charging of 1/2 hour then they can easily replace combustion based cars.

It might help if the batteries were made to last longer. Today the Reva requires new batteries every three years or so, and each battery pack is approx 70k to 80k, which wipes out all the possible savings you could have on the fuel bills.

I would prefer a car with the same range but does not require new batteries every three years. The batteries should be warranted for the lifetime.

.

[zenren]

Electric cars can never be a viable solution in the current scenario when some state governments are too keen on controlling the domestic consumption of electricity and penalizing those who use above the limits they decide. I'm not sure if petrol or electricity might be costlier in a couple of years from now.

Recent tariff hike in electricity in Kerala:

The Kerala State Regulatory Commission has ordered to levy Rs.15 per unit from domestic consumers who exceed the 300-unit monthly limit set for them.

The current power tariff for the consumers in the 300 to 500 unit slab is Rs.7.50 per unit. On crossing the 300 unit consumption limit, the consumers now will have to pay a penalty of Rs.15 per unit. The new rate will come into force from December 15 to May 31, 2013.

Full article

Any idea on the electricity consumption by electric cars for say 1000km running a month?

[honeybee]

You could check the Reva website to know the approximate consumption.

One thing is for sure: no matter what, petrol will never be as cheap as electricity. Just to take one example, you can produce electricity from a variety of sources: coal, water, solar energy or nuclear energy. Petrol can only be produced from crude oil (or with the help of some bio-fuel techniques). So with electricity, it's a matter of tapping or changing the sources to switch to a cleaner and cheaper way, while in case of petrol it would never be the case.

Plus if you could generate electricity using renewable energy, you could, in theory, generate infinite electricity. Not so in case of petrol. Imagine a solar-powered car which fuels itself while it is parked outside my home or office. I won't even need a charging point then!

I know this is all theory at the moment, however I do believe in the longer run petrol will be costlier than electricity.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by honeybee

You could check the Reva website to know the approximate consumption.

Reva site indicates consumption as 111Wh/km, which translates to 9km per unit of electricity. The site still mentions the electricity cost as Rs. 4 per unit, but based on current charges, it would be Rs.15 which translates to a per km running cost of nearly Rs. 1.66

Running cost for electricity, assuming 9 km per unit and Rs.15 per unit : Rs. 1.66
Running cost for petrol, assuming FE of 25 and Rs. 70/L: Rs. 2.8
Running cost for AutoLPG, assuming FE of 25 and Rs. 48/L: Rs. 1.92

I don't see the electric car to be very energy efficient even with the current prices of electricity and petrol.

Prices of petrol and AutoLPG are the current prices in Kerala. I've taken the FE of 25 based on Nano, since that is the smallest petrol car I could find in Indian market. It can still accomodate 4 while Reva can only accomodate 2 but costs more than half of what the petrol car costs for travel. I'm not sure if Mahindra might be able to extract a per km cost of Rs. 2.5 if they build a slightly bigger 4 seater version instead of Reva.

All this even without considering the cost to replace the battery of electric car every 3-4 years. Batteries with lifetime warranty would have to defy the laws of science.

I know this is all theory at the moment, however I do believe in the longer run petrol will be costlier than electricity.

That is my point. 20-25 years down the line, things could be different but not in the near future. Lets forget the theory or how it is done in other countries and look at what is happening in India. Even in power generation, we are mostly dependent on old school non-renewable sources. Unless our governments are relying on renewable sources for power generation and brings down the cost of electricity considerably, electric car concept is never going to take off.

Current choice is actually between a car running on fossil fuel or a car running on electricity generated by burning fossil fuels!

[hkollar]

Originally Posted by zenren

Current choice is actually between a car running on fossil fuel or a car running on electricity generated by burning fossil fuels!

I am replying to this old post, but Your calculations seemed a bit odd.

Rs.15/KWh of electricity in India? Where? Not unless you are using diesel generator to generate electricity.

Besides, India has attained 'unsubsidized' Gird power cost parity (i.e. the power that the grids pay for the electricity of other types). Here is the report - http://thinkprogress.org/climate/201...oming-in-2014/


ieee has estimated that the Solar PV prices will plummet throughout this decade and by 2020 will be far cheaper than any other fossil fuel source.

It is possible to generate 1Kw power from solar PV panel of 100sft. A Parking area is typically 16ft x 9ft = 144sqft. So, it is possible to generate over 1unit per hour in the space you park a car.

Considering in India we get atleast 8 hours of sun a day, it is possible to generate 8-9Kwh per day.

Typical power consumption of a good electric car (Nissan Leaf for example) is about 1Kwh for every 4km - http://www.plugincars.com/nissan-lea...el-106486.html

So, if you constructed a parking space, with solar panel on top - then you can drive your car for about 40km/day without ever paying for electricity again!

This will happen within next decade (not in 20-30yrs). In fact, it can happen now if you are willing to spend about 2.5Lakhs on Solar shed.

[S_U_N]

Originally Posted by hkollar

I am replying to this old post, but Your calculations seemed a bit odd.

Rs.15/KWh of electricity in India? Where? Not unless you are using diesel generator to generate electricity.

Besides, India has attained 'unsubsidized' Gird power cost parity (i.e. the power that the grids pay for the electricity of other types). Here is the report - http://thinkprogress.org/climate/201...oming-in-2014/


ieee has estimated that the Solar PV prices will plummet throughout this decade and by 2020 will be far cheaper than any other fossil fuel source.

It is possible to generate 1Kw power from solar PV panel of 100sft. A Parking area is typically 16ft x 9ft = 144sqft. So, it is possible to generate over 1unit per hour in the space you park a car.

Considering in India we get atleast 8 hours of sun a day, it is possible to generate 8-9Kwh per day.

Typical power consumption of a good electric car (Nissan Leaf for example) is about 1Kwh for every 4km - http://www.plugincars.com/nissan-lea...el-106486.html

So, if you constructed a parking space, with solar panel on top - then you can drive your car for about 40km/day without ever paying for electricity again!

This will happen within next decade (not in 20-30yrs). In fact, it can happen now if you are willing to spend about 2.5Lakhs on Solar shed.

Awesome. Let me build my farm house and I will incorporate this for sure.
BTW: Which car is equivalent of Nissan Leaf in India? I hope something better than Reva would be in your answer.
Also include battery costs (every 2 years or so) in the running costs.