Electric Vehicles - Bikes, Scooters, Motorcycles and Cars In India

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Four final year engineering students of P.S.N.A. College of Engineering and Technology have designed pilot model of a car that can be operated with hydrogen in the water, an alternative energy to fossil fuel. Water and solar energy are the basic source. First, photovoltaic cells convert sunlight directly into electricity to separate hydrogen from water. Separated hydrogen is used to generate electricity using electrolysis technology, to operate motors to move the vehicle.

Check out this prototype two wheeler from GM and Segway. It has a range of 35 miles on a charge and a top speed of 35mph.

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India has the maximum market potential for EVs owing to an established auto component infrastructure, low manufacturing and R&D costs, mechanical hardware availability, high urban congestion and the presence of a large domestic market. The industry could significantly gain from rising exports by 2010 and with appropriate government support, could transform the landscape of urban India by reducing pollution, improving public health, creating employment opportunities and impacting society.

A Chinese company called BYD (Build Your Dreams) premiered its new line of EV cars at the Detroit Auto Show this week.  They have developed a revolutionary new battery technology which they call 'ferrous oxide' batteries.  This seems to be similar to LifePo4 which has been around for a while.  They claim rapid charging (50% in 10 minutes) and a range of upto 400 km on one of their versions.

The Indian electric vehicle industry seems to be going through a transitional phase.  There is not much news about new releases since a while and the first wave of the EV boom is over.  Now, companies are consolidating and planning a proper strategy.  During the first wave, you saw a hoarde of cheap EVs imported directly from China and assembled here.  This approach has not been a success and a real Indian product is required, designed for Indians.  Let's hope that this happens over the coming months so that we can see more EVs on the road!

Tube Investments of India (TI), a Rs.17.82-billion multi-product company, entered the nascent electric scooter market with its subsidiary BSA Motors launching five models here Monday. “BSA Motors will invest around Rs.200 million into this business, and we hope to sell around 10,000 units this fiscal and 60,000 units the next year,” Arun Alagappan, senior vice-president, told reporters at the launch function. The two-wheeler plant has the capacity to roll out 150 units a day, which can be ramped up to 300 units, Alagappan said. Focussed initially on the four southern states, Puducherry and Goa, Alagappan said the bikes would be marketed nationally by March 2010. BSA Motors will retail the electric bikes through 45 dealers in the south by December and later increase the dealership network to 75 by the end of this fiscal. Priced in the range of Rs.29,000 to Rs.37,000, the five models are targeted at school and college students and women. Each variant will have four colour options.

Source: http://www.thaindian.com/

Hero Electric plansto set up around 2000 recharging stations during the fiscal year in 2009, which will be expanded to 10000 in the next three years. “We hope the move will help accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles, while providing current owners with more convenient charging options around town.” said Mr. Gill.
The charging stations are designed in-house at Hero Electric R&D design Centers and are capable of charging the battery in the shortest possible time.
The charging station at Hero Electric PGO’s will have electronic timers along with DC regulated power supply which will allow the electric 2-wheeler to charge in the multiples of 1,2 hours and the consumer will be charged Rs. 5 for an hours charge, Rs.10 for 2 hours and so on. The user can run the vehicle for approximately 10-20 km in an hour of charge depending on the condition of the battery.

The website was down due to technical reasons on 16 and 17 September.  We hope connectivity is fully restored.

Ultra Motor India plans to invest Rs. 150 crore over the next three years for product development, marketing and distribution in the country. They will be be launching five new e-scooters soon - three in low speed and two in high speed categories.
Ultra Motors has also slashed the cost of its electric scooters by 24 per cent in Delhi on back of tax benefits offered by the state government for environment friendly electronic vehicles. Moreover, the company has also announced a reduction of Rs. 9,000 on its high speed bike Velocity and Rs 8,000 on its low speed bike Marathon.

Hero Electric plans to export electric vehicles to SAARC countries starting this year.  They currently foresee a sales of about 5000 vehicles abroad, which would make up about 15% of their total sales.
In additional Hero Electric is planning to set up an assembly unit with a capacity of up to 70,000 vehicles per annum - the location is yet to be decided but they are eying the south since there is a big market there.

India could soon take pride for reinventing the wheel and leading the global green movement! An innovation by a senior administrator at IIT-Kharagpur is helping him ride the humble bicycle at 40 km an hour and pedalling past motor vehicles on busy roads without much effort. And you could be next — cycle manufacturers are planning to launch these hot wheels commercially, very soon. “Tweaking the pedal to generate more torque can create 700 watts of electricity per unit,” says Mondal.

Auroville held an electric vehicle parade on July 26th where a fleet of about 30 vehicles drove along a newly inaugurated road.  Dr Karan Singh was among the invitees.  The EVFuture team drove 3 of the first prototype electric mopeds.  There were Revas, electric cycles, electric scooters and electric 3-wheelers participating in the parade.  To see pictures, click here.

India’s largest automaker Tata Motors is set to start producing the world’s first commercial air-powered vehicle. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre for Luxembourg-based MDI, uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine’s pistons. Some 6000 zero-emissions Air Cars are scheduled to hit Indian streets in August of 2008. The Air Car, called the MiniCAT could cost around Rs. 3,50,000 ($ 8177) in India and would have a range of around 300 km between refuels. The cost of a refill would be about Rs. 85 ($ 2). Tata motors also plans to launch the world’s cheapest car, Tata Nano priced famously at One lakh rupees by October. Microcontrollers are used in every device in the car, so one tiny radio transmitter sends instructions to the lights, indicators etc. There are no keys - just an access card which can be read by the car from your pocket. According to the designers, it costs less than 50 rupees per 100Km (about a tenth that of a petrol car). Its mileage is about double that of the most advanced electric car (200 to 300 km or 10 hours of driving), a factor which makes a perfect choice in cities where the 80% of motorists drive at less than 60Km. The car has a top speed of 105 kmph. Refilling the car will, once the market develops, take place at adapted petrol stations to administer compressed air. In two or three minutes, and at a cost of approximately 100 rupees, the car will be ready to go another 200-300 kilometers. As a viable alternative, the car carries a small compressor which can be connected to the mains (220V or 380V) and refill the tank in 3-4 hours.

EV Owners, you can now update your profile and tell everyone which vehicle you own.  If you wish to be available for questions, you can select this option and leave your telephone number so others can reach you.
Potential buyers, you can now see a list of people who have agreed to be reachable and you can call them up to find out more about the vehicle before purchasing it.  Contact lists appear on the detail pages where available.

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Ben Gulak, a 19-year old Canadian man invented a new type of electric vehicle, something between a unicycle and a motorcycle. Its polished orange and grey frame sits atop two side-by-side wheels only an inch apart. Its compact design makes it ideal for dense urban areas, where it can zip in and out of traffic easily.
"It's a new type of urban commuting vehicle," said Gulak.

Source: Milton Canadian Champion  Read Article

The nascent electric two-wheeler segment, currently estimated at Rs 4.5 billion, is set to grow this fiscal, say manufacturers.
But while all are now stepping on the gas to boost sales, their marketing planks differ: while some say their sales pitch would revolve round "convenience", for others, it's "economy" at a time of spiralling fuel price.
"There is not much of a difference between the real operating costs of a battery-operated two-wheeler and the petrol models," S. Srinivas, general manager of TVS Motor that owns Scooty Teenz Electric brand said.

Hero Electric, a subsidiary of Hero Group announced its plans to launch a range of five Electric Scooters during the current fiscal.
Hero Electric had sold 21,000 scooters last year and it targetted of sell 70,000 during the current year. The National market for the two-wheeled EVs was expected to reach 1.6 lakh from last year's 70,000, he said. The presently avaiable models are available at Rs 29,000 to Rs 30,000 ex-shoroom in Delhi.
The company plans to spend Rs 80 crore this year mainly on capital expenditure. It would spend Rs 50 crore on plant and machinery in Ludhiana and Rs 20 crore at its R and D centre in Delhi.

The New Delhi-based Ultra Motor India will launch an electric motorcycle, which will have the look and ride feel of a conventional bike, within the next two years in the country.
''The motorcycle, which will have good pick-up, a top speed of 80 kilometres per hour (kmph) and a range of 100 kilometres, will be based on the latest lithium-ion battery technology,'' said Ultra Motor India Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director Ganesh Mahalingam. Ultra Motor India is the Indian arm of Ultra Motor Company (UMC), a global electric vehicle company based in the United Kingdom (UK), which has patented a DC motor technology suitable for two-wheelers.

Domestic electronic bike makers are expecting a 5-10 per cent jump in their sales on the back of a steep hike in fuel prices, which is giving jitters to the automobile companies.    

Within a day of the announcement of the increase in fuel prices by Union Government, the electronic-bike manufacturers have witnessed record sales in their bikes and received lot of enquiries for setting up dealers network across the country. 

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