"REVA", the first Indian electrical passenger car launched last year is to go global by January next year when exports were expected to start in a regular manner, a top executive of the Bangalore based REVA Electric Car Co said. "We expect to have at least 25 percent of our sales revenues to come from exports from next year" Chetan Maini, managing director of the company told reporters while launching version of the car in the city on Wednesday.

He said that at least 270 REVA cars were on the roads adding that responses to trial exports to countries like Nepal, Malta, the UK, the USA and Switzerland were quite encouraging. Mr. Maini said that the demand for small electric cars were growing across the globe especially in Europe in view of its environment friendly features.

The world demand for such cars around the world at present is estimated to be around 80,000 units per annum. He said the company was in talks with major hotels, super market chains and movie theatres in Indian cities for providing charging points for REVA cars adding that the company was also planning to adopt advanced battery technologies for offering increased mileage for REVA cars in the near future.

Mr. Maini said that REVA is 92 percent digenised and the company is also planning solar chargeable version of REVA. "Plans are also a foot to enter into vehicles for the public and private transport sector" he said. REVA's existing manufacturing facility in Karnataka, has a capacity to produce 1500 units per shift at present.

This would go up to 12000 cars by the 2004. Referring to the price of the car which is now around Rs 2.8 lakh in cities like Chennai, he said that one the excise duty, sales tax and road taxes were waived which some states has already done, the price would come down to Rs 2.1 lakh.

He said the centre had already written to all the state governments to waive these duties in respect of electric vehicles adding that the governments of Karnataka, Rajasthan, Goa and Pondicherry had exempted REVA from sales tax while road tax has been waived in AP, Karnataka and Rajasthan.