Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd., a part of $ 15.4 billion Mahindra Group, is sitting on an interesting past history and global recognition. Before the Mahindra takeover, the firm was called Reva Electric Car Company and was based in Bangalore, Karnataka. The electric car maker was founded in the year 1994 as a joint venture between Maini Group and the Amerigon Electric Vehicle Technologies (AEV) LLC based in United States.
Reva Electric Car Company charted to great success with its globally patented technologies in the fields of green energy and battery management, along with cutting edge remote diagnostics. The company introduced its two-seater Revai electricity powered city car in Bangalore in the year 2001. The same model was later introduced in London under the moniker 'G-Wiz' in 2004, where it managed impressive sales, critical acclaims and gained worldwide recognition.
Mahindra Group acquired a major controlling stake in Reva Electric Car Company in May 2010, thereby enabling the electric car maker to reach new heights and taking its global popularity to an entirely different level. At present, Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles has one of the biggest deployed fleets of battery powered passenger cars in the world. The company regularly experiments with various distribution models and products, besides designing light weight structures and developing efficient drive trains for the futuristic of mobility solutions.
Chetan Maini, Founder of the Reva Electric Car Company, represent the creative brains behind the electric car revolution in India. Chetan's interest in battery powered electric cars started when he was just a kid, obsessed with the model vehicles. Interestingly, curious Chetan during his academic years at the University of Michigan, United States, had worked on General Motors' award winning Sunracer car, a solar energy powered racing car in the year 1990. The Revai (named after his mother) and the newly launched e2o electric cars are the brainchilds of Chetan, who wants the global auto sector industry to embrace a cleaner and greener mode of transport- electric vehicles. At present, Chetan Maini is the Chief of Strategy & Technology at Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles.
The stunning e20 small electric car is assembled at Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles' Bangalore-based green manufacturing facility, accredited by LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). The unit derives 35 per cent of its total power consumption from the unconventional solar energy. The Mahindra Reva facility can manufacture around 30,000 units per year, which is quite an impressive number for electric powered vehicles.
Expressing his mind at the introduction of e2o in India, Chetan Maini, has been quoted as saying, “The Mahindra e2o is a near perfect amalgam of the dramatic advancements in automotive technology, electronics and Information Technology - a unique synthesis that we believe will help us shape and co-create, with our customers, the future of personal mobility solutions, as we know them. The Mahindra e2o is designed 'outside-in', as conceived of the car as the third space. It is, thus, a very real solution to power personal mobility for a sustainable future. We are certain that the cutting-edge technological innovation that has gone into the Mahindra e2o will help our customers remain connected in a convenient, cool and cost-effective manner.”
