[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by kamyfc

Scenario 123rd August 2013 - 20:05 hrs. Did you forget to pull the hand brake? Always pull up the hand brake before you exit the car.Scenario 2 Scenario 3

Hello Friend,

Congrats on a revolutionary decision to buy a equally revolutionary car on Indian roads. Wish many city drivers like me are bold enough to go ahead & buy a car like this one.

Thank you for a brilliant & interesting write up. Wish you safe & happy (& very cheap) miles in your new (trend settnig) car.

Of everything you have mentioned, I like the SMS feature the most. I feel this is simply amazing. The security guard switched off the charging at 3:00 am & you get a SMS at 3:05 am suggesting to remove the plug from electric socket - absolutely spot on. Is this wonderful facility free of charge from Mahindra? If yes, how long will it be free?

Thanks,

[Jeash.vk]

Great review. Thank you for providing such in depth first hand experience report. I am hoping that electric car sales pick up and thus reduce the production price of these batteries. Once this comes down it would be a real level playing filed (range excepted) with the OIL based cars. Would be fun watching how that shapes up!

Thank you again for the review.

[byomjeet]

Originally Posted by kamyfc

UPDATE - 06/09/2013 (Teeny Weeny nuggets of information!)


• Overall the best vehicle for a city drive.

Hi,

CONGRATS. Good to know that you are the proud owner of the most eco friendly car in the country.

But, I have the following reservations:

1. The Government should have provided some subsidy on this car or cars or bikes running on electricity to make them affordable by the common man.

2. Our carbon footprint will remain the same if we are using the power produced burning the fossil fuel.

Anyways, have a nice drive. Keep posting your reviews on your dear Reva.

[Ascari]

Whoa man! You hate Oil? The Internal Combustion Engine? Wow! That is the holy grail of petrol heads dude.The Tesla S may be fast but it still doesn't have the charm of the Internal Combustion engine! A silent drive? No thank You! I would prefer the noise the Internal Combustion Engine makes any day of the year...

To be honest with you I hate these puny little cars.I usually take the Hosur Road and these puny cars are annoying lane hoggers driving at 40kmph in the middle lane as the Reva factoryis situated here and their test drivers are eternally testing the damn things! I hate them...But you know I am old fashioned and a topgear fan and the natural consequence being I hate these puny electric cars! So no offence,enjoy your drive but please stay out of the fast lane!

[mnrvokk]

Congrats on the new car and glad you are enjoying the freedom from the petrol stations.

Food for thought -
You are still using the same electric grid to charge your car battery that the rest of the country uses and we use thermal power stations in India for about 75% of our needs. This means Coal, Gas and Diesel powered power stations which still pollute and / or use oil for power generation.

The intent is good but we have a long way to go till we reduce our dependence on coal and oil.

[click]

Originally Posted by mnrvokk

Congrats on the new car and glad you are enjoying the freedom from the petrol stations.

Food for thought -
You are still using the same electric grid to charge your car battery that the rest of the country uses and we use thermal power stations in India for about 75% of our needs. This means Coal, Gas and Diesel powered power stations which still pollute and / or use oil for power generation.

The intent is good but we have a long way to go till we reduce our dependence on coal and oil.

Yes that's true that majority of our power still comes from old tech coal and other natural resources, but then to say that electric vehicles don't cut till we have 100% non destructive power generation, (not particularly you, but many above have made that comment), does not make sense in my opinion.

Unless we am start we will never get better. This is the advent with tesla and reva leading the way. More we use these cars, more the research will be undertaken and better tech found.

These cars need natural resources to be manufactured, but Atleast they don't add to the pollution while on road. It's a start, not the holy grail. With time not only range will get better, but so will battery manufacturing process and electricity generation.

[Diamond_dawg]

A nice write up! How long does it take to fully charge up the battery?

Wish the Govt start putting incentives for this car. Right now living in the Us but plan to move to Belgaum soon and this car is on my shortlist!

[misquitas]

I just happened to read this superb thread on the Mahinda e2o and congrats on thinking different and more importantly, putting that difference into action.

I was curious to know the sales of the e2o and I checked up the August 2013 sales thread. Interestingly, Mahindra does not seem to have released sales numbers for the e2o.

Do you or anyone else have any idea about the e2o sales since its launch? The reason I'm asking is, if the sales are indeed dismal, Mahindra could well consider pulling the plug on the e2o, leaving you and others in the lurch.

I distinctly remember that some electric two-wheelers were launched and a dealer had set shop here in Goa. The sales were dismal and the dealer closed shop. I dont know if another dealer was opened in another part of Goa, but I only hope that some dealer services these electric two-wheelers for the benefit of those who invested in them.

[rohitgaur]

Brave decision for a first timer....change your handle to "Maverick"
I am enlightened with the full write up on the "pros" and "pros" of the E20.But the question here is numbers. How does Mahindra plan to rake in numbers to setup efficient A*S*S...
This is a catch 22, everyone waits for someone else to take the plunge.
Even I ll wait for an year and I vow to buy one E20 on two conditions: if there is service center here in Chandigarh and the day I see 3 of them in the same city......

[lucifer1881]

Originally Posted by rohitgaur

...
Even I ll wait for an year and I vow to buy one E20 on two conditions: if there is service center here in Chandigarh and...

Any Mahindra dealer will service it.

That said, I do love the electric motor. It is among the most efficient of our devices. I do have an issue with bateries - they are among the most inefficient ways of storing energy. What we need is an on-board power generator like a fuel cell. Use the energy as it is produced.

And oh, congrats on the ride!

[kamyfc]

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

Congratulations !!

This is not just a review but you are spreading awareness on how convenient these cars to run.

May be only reason you would have to visit the fuel pumps is to check Air pressure

Coming to conventional oil based cars, there is a big lobby out there and like our Oil minister himself confessed the lobby even wants to forever keep our country dependent on oil imports(These politicians will do everything to remain dependent)

Just a small correction on the pollution front though: Majority of the electricity still gets generated by burning Coal. I am hoping to see more developments in alternate energy such as solar power panels etc. Then the electric cars can surely be called clean

Thanx! The idea is to spread awareness on one of the best engineered cars in India.
Glad u found it useful.

You can run the e2o on clean electrons, right now. Mahindra offers us the Sun2Car solar power package. I shall go for it after a while. Its an interesting offer.

Originally Posted by i74js

You mentioned in Section 1:

So the battery pack itself costs around $5500. This amounts to Rs 330000 and thus the high cost.

And in Section 2:

And whereas in cost of replacement - you have written as 1 Lac at the present market price


Pardon me - but this seems to be contradicting !

Could you please advise which one is correct 1 Lac or 3.3 Lac if it is 1 Lac then who will bear the difference or the costing of battery bank is false representation of M & M


Also the cost of charging seem to be incorrect - You have written

Now the e2o takes 10 units of electricity per charge. Suppose i charge say 3 times a week. That would mean 12 times a month = 120 units a month = Rs 480 (at Rs 4 per unit) just to operate the car. Compare that to Rs 5000 or 6000 people spend of petrol each month. The cost savings are huge.


1. My take it is that there is a conversion efficiency and thus 10 kWh (10 units of electricity consumed) cannot charge a 10 kWh storage facility (battery). Considering LIon batteries, it should take about 14 to 15 kWh

2. In Pune too, you cannot get electricity @ INR 4.00 kWh (unless you are talking about a seperate electricity connection). In a house , you will have other loads and thus, this will add to existing household consumption making the owner of the car jump to next slab of per kWh (unit) rate resulting in a higher payout. Savings will be there - no doubt, but certainly not in a manner in which you have suggested.

3. All batteries have a derating factor / cycle of charging and discharging. The consumption required for charging will thus increase after 300 cycles of charge / discharge (normally 1/3rd of the life of battery) and the commuting distance per charge will reduce resulting in reduced performance of the car.

Cheers

About the replacement batery cost - thanx for pointing out, i shall correct that. Its the estimated costs of a similar pack with equavalent energy density after 4 years.
The cost of the batteries are dropping quiet rapidly. They have dropped in half over the last 4 years and experts say that the costs of the batteries will drop another half over the next 4 years. So when the cost of the electric vehicle batteries have dropped enough , the incremental cost of an electric vehicle will not be that much higher than a oil based vehicle.

I hear a lot of worry bout replacement of a battery packs -
I shall offer you a different perspective -

In the first 30k km of the life of a oil powered car, you would need:
* 3 to 6 oil and oil filter changes;
* maybe spark plug changes if long life spark plugs are not being used;
* 1 or 2 fuel filter changes;
* 1 or 2 air filter changes;
* 2 to 3 coolant changes;
* possibly 2 brake pad changes and brake rotor changes (depends on material and driving style) since there is no regen braking with a oil only car;
* possibly a timing belt change;
* might start seeing engine oil leaks which need to be fixed;
and lots of maintenance things that a petrol engine requires.
Then, when you need to fill up petrol and keep going to petrol pumps for so many years....

If a battery starts to degrade after 30k km, then you have had 30,000 km of not having to do the crap I mentioned above.
Now thatz an interesting way to look at things isnt it?

------
The battery pack can only store 10kwH worth of energy, even thou u feed it 14/15 kWh worth of energy the Battery Management System will cut the power to the pack.
So ultimately only 10kWh worth of energy is fed to the battery pack.
About units of power consumed. I have absolutely verified it and can tell you that e2o takes 10 units of power. I have checked the readings on the meter and they are accurate - 10 units (provided i charge from 5% to 100% SOC). Have also verified my electricity bill bout the units consumed.


----
I pay around 3 per unit. With taxes and stuff it comes to around Rs 4 per unit.
I charge the car around 2 times a week and occasionaly 3 times a week and i did not notice any jump in terms of rates etc.

Originally Posted by scarecrow

@Kamyfc - You r in which company? The pic in which people are admiring your car is near the JW Mariott gate.

I am in the Pantaloon office building only. Will search for EVA in the basement.

I work in the BMC office. Feel free to look for EVA in Basement 1
My number is on the dash - so feel free to call me and i would be glad to answer any queries u have.

Originally Posted by arpanjha

You made this car even more desirable. I am sure a few more ownership reviews are coming up soon enough on T-BHP after your review. I love the car & have been waiting since the day it was announced. I am sure to book one as soon as my financials allow me to. I have already written twice to Mahindra and the local dealer to find out when this is going to get launched in my city.

Looking forward to more and more updates from you on the drive. Please keep us updated, I am subscribing to this thread. Enjoy your car thoroughly and keep us posted with every significant bit of development or experience.

I dont know why they did not launch the car in cities like Kolkatta and Chennai.
Mebe they wanted to focus on places where the original Reva did well.
Sure i shall update this. Stay tuned.

Originally Posted by click

This is what we need. Honest, thought provoking and detailed ownership thread on electric vehicles, which hopefully will make team bhp members the biggest enablers when it comes to accepting this tech in india.

Look forward to your journey with this machine, will be definitely considering e2o very seriously when time comes to replace my old honda city.

Awesome! Glad to know that u will go for an EV

[Simple_car]

Originally Posted by kamyfc

Weren't you aware that Mahindra REVA were launching an electric car?
The news was out in mid 2012 especially in their FB page etc?

Any manufacturing process be it OIL, Batteries will use energy go generate the finished product. So nothing is good for the environment.

American organization - Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), EVs will reduce greenhouse gases and other emissions, even if the source of electricity is mostly coal.

Electric vehicles have the lowest overall energy conversion losses.

As far as battery disposal is concerned - Lithium Ion battery packs are valuable even after their usage period is over. So it makes sense to use them for other applications and while disposing them, there are lots of metals etc that can be extracted for further use. So they are totally recyclable.

EPRI is the electric industry's lobby in U.S. Their articles have to be taken with a pinch of salt, even though I myself will not be able to point out all the flaws.

Coming back to the point, the fact that electric motor's are more efficient than ICE was never a disputed fact. It is true and has been know since many years. My info is more than a year old now, but atleast a year back most publications (and I am talking about university one's.. some independent and some funded by electric companies) were agreeing to some points:
- as on a year back, EV manufacture was a wasteful and enviornmentally damaging process.. more than the established ICE one's. However, they did acknowledge that the EV industry was still in their infancy and hence a benefit of doubt was given.
- EV's no matter how well they are engineered, are not the solution to the planet's problems. Some reports suggest that they will in fact compound the problem to a great extent.
- battery manufacturing has improved since past 5 years, however, the recycling is still not there yet. As I already mentioned, mass market dynamics can change that and more research will start once there is a whiff of money to be made.
- battery's can be cheaper to produce if there is sufficient demand.
- there were a few more points, but I do not seem to remember.

Now, all the publications I have read were from the western universities. None from the japanese and taiwanese universities, where I personally believe that there is a lot to be learnt and I may be proved wrong too. Hence, as of now, I am still guarded as to whether EV's are the solution or not.

Your pic definitely sums up what is the problem, but as I said, even EV's are still not the solution. For most city dwellers like you and me, they make a lot of sense.. perfectly true. However, I will reserve my comments for the future on this aspect, since I would like to observe a lot more before finally agreeing to this fact (which as on today, the way things stand, I am sure you will be proved right).

Anything is recyclable in this world, it is the cost effectiveness which matters.

You are also right that oil manufacturing is also a enviornmentally damaging process and for that matter any manufacturing process is. I will never dispute that.
However, as I said, my knowledge is a more than a year old and hence my opinions. I will be more than happy to be proved wrong.

I like this car from REVA, but not for the enviornmental reasons. I do not track cars like a lot of people here. When I enter the car market, I know my requirements, and I look out for all the available options, and I have the car in my home within 15 days (that is the max I can wait for). So, e2o was 6 months too late for us. However, if the car is still on sale after 5 years, I will be happy to buy it.

I think we are going OT here, and this is your ownership report. I will not comment on EV v/s ICE on this thread; will ask any doubts which I have. Keep us updated and most importantly, enjoy this car

Thanks,
Simple_car

[kamyfc]

Originally Posted by Reinhard

Hey, hearty congratulations on the most practical & "proper" EV on our roads till date. Wish you unlimited safe & happy miles with EVA.

Thanks for the wishes
"Oh I'm sorry...I have to charge the car!" - LOL.
Now i hope i dont have to face that situation. But if this kind of a thing happens once a year - i'll just shrug my shoulders and solve the problem.
But am positive that will never happen as i always keep the charge topped up to go ATLEAST 40KMS.
The worry of 'Refueling' should never be a barrier to own an EV , IMO

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Hello Friend,

Congrats on a revolutionary decision to buy a equally revolutionary car on Indian roads. Wish many city drivers like me are bold enough to go ahead & buy a car like this one.

Thank you for a brilliant & interesting write up. Wish you safe & happy (& very cheap) miles in your new (trend settnig) car.

Of everything you have mentioned, I like the SMS feature the most. I feel this is simply amazing. The security guard switched off the charging at 3:00 am & you get a SMS at 3:05 am suggesting to remove the plug from electric socket - absolutely spot on. Is this wonderful facility free of charge from Mahindra? If yes, how long will it be free?

Thanks,

Thanks. Yes, the SMS facility is included with the car price.
You get the following Future of Mobility services included with the price of the car for 3 years -
a) REVIVE - u get additional 10 kms worth of range if u r stuck up. They remotely activate it
b) Data charges - All the data that is being transported between the Car and the Mahinda servers is covered
c) Smart Phone Connectivity - To switch on AC, Lock, Unlock car, schedule trips etc
d) Battery health reports
e) Personalized Web Page
f) Remote Diagnostics
g) 24 * 7 helpline
h) Software Upgrades - Now this is cool. You can get new features just due to a patch applied by a software upgrade.
i) Breakdown services
j) Charge Port Isntallation
i) 2 Home based services - For first 2 years - once a year they come to your place

Originally Posted by Jeash.vk

Great review. Thank you for providing such in depth first hand experience report. I am hoping that electric car sales pick up and thus reduce the production price of these batteries. Once this comes down it would be a real level playing filed (range excepted) with the OIL based cars. Would be fun watching how that shapes up!

Thank you again for the review.

I hope companies like Nissan, Hyundai, GM launch the Nissan LEaf, The Hyundai i10 electric and the Chevy Spark EV.
Once they enter the Indian EV market, this might prompt Tata Motors, Maruti to come up with EV's.
Thatz when we will really see traction.

Yes! Watch the fun!

Originally Posted by byomjeet

Hi,
Our carbon footprint will remain the same if we are using the power produced burning the fossil fuel.

Anyways, have a nice drive. Keep posting your reviews on your dear Reva.

I mentioned in my earlier post that even if EVs run electrons got from COAL,
there are still efficiency benefits as compared to an ICE car.
Also u help in improving the quality of air in our cities.
Also u do ur bit in reducing the OIL that is imported from the middle East.
I'm proud that i use Indian generated Energy rather than imported OIL from Middle East.
So should u be, when u use an EV

Mod Note: Post Edited. Smiley usage is restricted to two per post on Team-BHP. Please do NOT use more than 2 smileys in a post.
Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers.

[kamyfc]

Originally Posted by misquitas

I just happened to read this superb thread on the Mahinda e2o and congrats on thinking different and more importantly, putting that difference into action.

I was curious to know the sales of the e2o and I checked up the August 2013 sales thread. Interestingly, Mahindra does not seem to have released sales numbers for the e2o.

Do you or anyone else have any idea about the e2o sales since its launch? The reason I'm asking is, if the sales are indeed dismal, Mahindra could well consider pulling the plug on the e2o, leaving you and others in the lurch.

I distinctly remember that some electric two-wheelers were launched and a dealer had set shop here in Goa. The sales were dismal and the dealer closed shop. I dont know if another dealer was opened in another part of Goa, but I only hope that some dealer services these electric two-wheelers for the benefit of those who invested in them.

Right the sales are not that great as of now.

Buy the way, just wanted to show you guys that Anand Mahindra liked my blog and he believes in the movement.
https://twitter.com/anandmahindra/st...48533812916224

Mahindra has invested more than 30 million $ in that clean environment friendly plant. And they want to have vehicles in all the segments that includes EVs.
So they should not go away leaving the customers.

But its business and worst case they pull the plug on EVs, there are always ways to solve any problem and We should not worry bout being 'left the lurch'.

Originally Posted by Simple_car

EPRI is the electric industry's lobby in U.S. Their articles have to be taken with a pinch of salt, even though I myself will not be able to point out all the flaws.

Coming back to the point, the fact that electric motor's are more efficient than ICE was never a disputed fact. It is true and has been know since many years. My info is more than a year old now...................and I have the car in my home within 15 days (that is the max I can wait for). So, e2o was 6 months too late for us. However, if the car is still on sale after 5 years, I will be happy to buy it.

I think we are going OT here, and this is your ownership report. I will not comment on EV v/s ICE on this thread; will ask any doubts which I have. Keep us updated and most importantly, enjoy this car

Thanks,
Simple_car

Fair enuf. No one is saying that EVs are the solution to the planet's problems.
We are just saying that they are a cleaner solution than OIL based transport, once battery tech improves. Will take some time, but it can be done.

I respect your opinions and am happy that you would consider an EV in the future.

Note from Mod: Rather than adding a new post, please use the 'Edit' button to add more information to your post, if within the required time-period.

[mnrvokk]

Originally Posted by click

Yes that's true that majority of our power still comes from old tech coal and other natural resources, but then to say that electric vehicles don't cut till we have 100% non destructive power generation, (not particularly you, but many above have made that comment), does not make sense in my opinion.

My post was just trying to bring to attention that buying an electric car now will not free you from using oil or coal for your transportation. As I mentioned in my post, this is a nice start but we are a long way to go.

As much as the tesla or numerous other electric only cars are trying, I think that the way for the future is with hydrogen fueled cars. Honda and BMW(to some extent) have proven that it is possible and with the right political and public push it can be the thing that will wean us away from petrol or diesel.