Small is Beautiful And Economical! And easy to run! And it's called the REVA. The REVA Electric Car has finally arrived and though for quite some time it seemed that the car was much ahead of its times, the OVERDRIVE road test puts all such notions to rest. The car was put through a week of grueling test routine in Pune and not only had the midget impressed all of us at editorial office but drew up a sizeable following amongst the common folk of Pune. In my over four years with OVERDRIVE, I have driven many cars, some before anyone from the public has even heard about them, some costing close to a crore of rupees and others which are huge, stylish and attractive

While most cars draw a lot of attention and have people asking you about its price, fuel efficiency and the like, others like the expensive Mercs draw only gazes of silent admiration. If it weren't for the fact that this is the road test of the Eva Electric car, I would have bet that you would not have been able to guess which car drew the most crowds…yes, even more than the Mercedes-Benz SLK or the mammoth Yamaha V-Max motorcycle.

It was exhilarating to witness the car getting so many people excited and interested. The most often asked questions being whether the car was imported. What is its name? Does it run on electricity? What is the body made of? How much distance did it cover in one charge? And how much it cost? One evening after office the editor wanted to go for a drive in the REVA and I drove behind him in his Merc.

On getting to his place I found it difficult to wade through the questions that everyone seemed to ask about the REVA and I very quietly exchanged keys and made my getaway. I must remember to ask him for how long he was answering questions about the REVA! The next day he himself acknowledged that the REVA was second to none in its crowd pulling abilities.

DESIGN & STYLE: As cute as it gets! Surprisingly everyone commented on how cute the REVA was. As I drove into my apartment complex a group of young girls burst out in unison: "HOW CU-U-TE" And as I parked the car and started making arrangements for replenishing its power pack, I got to talk to people I had never met before in the four years that I have stayed at that place. Everyone agreed that the car was very cute without doubt.

Some macho men however begged to differ, calling it frog-faced! Yes, though the styling might be oddball, the REVA's appeal comes from its size, the bright colours and the shimmering graphics, and fits the exact dictionary definition of cute to the "e". The overall build quality is good though there are a lot of small niggles that still need to be sorted out. The adjustment of the latch on the rear hatch for example, gave us some problems.

CHASIS & SUSPENSION: Rear suspension requires some more work. With initial inputs from a team of the of the Pasadena Design Centre in the US, the complete design work including 3D-modelling of all the assemblies and all the individual parts, analysis of the entire chassis has all been done in-house by REVA Design Engineers with assistance from the Parametric Technology Corporation.

The body of the REVA is made up of a tubular steel space frame which has advantages of a hindrance free and high interior space-exterior volume ratio, high structural rigidity besides forming a very effective energy absorbing shell for occupant protection during crashes.

The body panels are made of ABS, which not only make the car lightweight but are also energy absorbing and have the ability of absorbing impacts without breaking or deforming. The suspension features Mac Pherson struts up front with an anti-roll bar and is on par with most small cars. The rear however uses a pan hard rod with coils over dampers. With the power train housed on the rear axle and the need to maintain high pressures in the tyres to minimize rolling friction, the suspension comes across as being rather too stiff. Bad roads cause the rear to jump and shift besides being harsh on the passengers as well as the body of the car.

ENGINE & TRANSMISSION: Cutting edge EV technology. The integrated power supply and drive system consists of a high torque (69Nm), 5kW (6.4bhp) continuous and 13kW (18bhp) peak output DC motor mounted at the rear axle. A microprocessor-based controller regulates the delivery of current to the motor and ensures smooth acceleration and precise speeds based on the position of the accelerator. The motor controller also helps the car to be driven in three modes - forward, economy and reverse.

Apart from these functions the motor controller also does regenerative braking and recharges the power pack through the motor when braking. The motor controller also keeps a thermal check on both the motor and itself to prevent it from overheating. It also constantly updates the EMS (Energy management system) on its functioning. The intelligent EMS is a computerized system that is the hub of all electrical activity. It continuously interfaces with all the electric systems in the car, monitors them and informs the user through telltale lights on the instrument panel.

In case of the charge on the power pack running low, the EMS limits the drawing of energy from the power pack, thereby maximizing range. It monitors the charging process, the state of the charge as well as the level of water in the batteries which can be replenished through a centralized feeder port at the edge of the charging bay. The power pack itself consists of eight 6-volt tubular EV lead batteries, which also carry a three-year or 40,000km warranty. Here lies the biggest challenge for EV manufacturers. The battery pack to run to run a car even of the size of the REVA becomes quite large and heavy and is one of the main contributors in taking the weight of the car up to as high as 640kg. The REVA Electric Car Co like most other Ev companies around the world is working with another Indian company on developing lightweight Lithium-ion batteries for use in EV's.

Though the cost of these batteries might be appreciably more, the range and the efficiency of the EV will increase while the time taken for charging will go down. It currently takes about five hours to fully charge the lead-acid battery pack and two and a half hours can change the power pack to 80 per cent capacity. The power from the motor is transmitted to the rear wheels undergoing a single seven-to-one reduction on its way to the rear wheels.

Thus the REVA is one of the very few rear-wheel drive cars available in the country today. Everything seems to have been thought of and taken care of. The whine from the motor which was quite evident when we had first driven the car seems to have been an electric car, it comes as quite a surprise when the car moves off noiselessly, both for the driver as well as bystanders.

PERFORMANCE: Nothing electrifying but adequate for city driving. There are two forward modes to choose from with one (E) limiting top speed and acceleration to maximize range while the other (F) maximizes performance at the cost of range. It is easy to switch from one to the other and while most of the driving can be done with the selector on E, one can shift to F when the need arises or the situation warrants.

Even in the F mode the acceleration is not all that great and it takes as much time for the REVA to reach 30kmph as it takes a fuel injected Maruti 800 to reach 60kmph. The 50kmph mark comes up in 17.14 seconds in the quicker mode and if you are headed for a long day in the city and are switched on to the E mode, 50kmph will come up in over 24 seconds. Top speed is claimed to be limited to 65kmph in the F mode and to 55kmph in the E mode, but with two people onboard along with the testing equipment, the car could only get up to just over 55kmph in the F mode.

This is not meant to be a performance-oriented car and it delivers sufficiently when and where it matters. With its limited range it is doubtful whether the car will ever leave city limits and for driving in cities like Pune, its performance is more than adequate. It never lags behind the pace of the city traffic and is capable of a decant amount of overtaking too. Besides it does not fall behind when starting off at traffic lights. If you manage to get onto the front row at a red traffic light, you will more often than not be the first across and can look forward to an empty road ahead.

RANGE: Adequate for intra-city driving! Might be problematic for metros or larger cities! While the claimed range on a full charge is up to 80km in the F mode and up to 100km in the E mode, in our experience of city driving with the music system playing, the REVA comes to the end of its tether at 72km. This sort of range is quite adequate for a single stretch of driving in the not so large cities like Pune and Bangalore but might turn out to be problematic for larger metros like Delhi. Even then I do not think that there are single stretches of more than 70-odd kilometers but going shopping or even going to the office and then getting back home might definitely entail drives of more than 70km. Going to the office might not be a problem as the car could be put on charge there but the other kind of trips might pose some problems. The manufacturer has come up with a solution to that by installing charging points at major commercial districts of the towns where the car has been launched. So while there were no such charging outlets in Pune, I have seen a few around the major markets of Bangalore.

ECONOMY: Much cheaper to run and maintain. One full charge of the battery-pack uses up nine units of electricity, which translates into 40 paise per kilometer. This compares very favourably to the running cost of a small gasoline engine car at over Rs. 2 for every kilometer. The only major cost incurred on the REVA would be the tyres, the cost of changing of which would be nearly the same as on normal fossil-fuel cars. The REVA, on the other hand would not need periodic changes of various filters, lubricating oils etc and the other major cost would be the changing of the battery pack after three years or 40,000km. The battery pack would cost between Rs 30,000 and Rs 40,000 and this would translate into a maximum cost of a rupee per kilometer run. Even if we include this cost into the running costs of this electric vehicle, at Rs 1.40 per kilometer it is still substantially cheaper to run than internal combustion engine cars. And we aren't even including all the other maintenance costs incurred on petrol / diesel-powered cars. All this works fine if there are only a maximum of two people traveling in your car. Once you take into consideration the fact that any small car can seat four fully grown adults and is used with a full compliment of passengers, then all the cost is divided by four to give a per person estimate, while the costs per person for the REVA are achieved by dividing the costs of running the car by a factor of two only. Besides, many states offer incentives like sales tax waivers or road tax subsidies on the purchase of EV's while corporates can claim full 100 per cent depreciation during the first year itself.

EQUIPMENT: An electric car with air con and a music system and… The Standard REVA that we had on test comes with just a 4-speed blower and a Kenwood music system. But RECC has just recently launched two other variants of the car, which also feature air conditioning. The REVA AC is available at an introductory ex-showroom price just about Rs 25,000 more than the standard REVA. The top-of-the-line variant, Classe, features an air con with remote facility (the air con can be switched on even while you are still away from the car and the car is already cool by the time you get to it), leather upholstery, central locking, trendy decals, a high end Kenwood stereo system, Auto cop security system, special wheel caps and door trims, antiglare and body coloured rear view mirrors and is available for an introductory price of Rs 3.18 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). A cabriolet version is on its way.

SUMMING IT UP Thus the REVA makes sense for people who travel alone with two people in the car, and that alone or with two people in the car, and that too for stretches of not more than 70-odd kilometers before getting to a place where the car is parked for at least a couple of hours.

Yes, it makes sense for a lot of people, like working wives for example, who use their cars everyday for getting to the office where the car can be put on charge for most of the day and then maybe a few shopping trips over the week to the nearby grocery store or supermarket. For longer trips or holidays they usually travel with their family and take their husband's car, which is in any way bigger.

Well, it could be the other way around too. So the REVA makes for an ideal second car for a small family or for grown up children who are still studying and whose parents can afford to buy them a car and would prefer the REVA because it is simple to drive and does not open up too many more possibilities.

Companies can buy it for their staff members who have to travel short distances for work or inside huge plants and factories. It also makes sense for people living on university campuses or cantonment areas which are self sufficient townships by themselves and work, home, shopping, friends, clubs and theatres are all within a 10km radius. And this zero-emission car is also the perfect vehicle for people with a conscience!

- Yogendra Pratap