Driveblog

India's  Tata Technologies  unveiled the prototype for a $20,000 electric car that can carry up to four passengers in  Detroit  Wednesday as it set out to challenge more costly rivals.  "The eMO project symbolizes the coming of age of Indian automotive engineering," said  Warren Harris , president of Tata Technologies.  "It is a tangible example of the capability of Tata Technologies to engineer a full vehicle -- a first for any India-based engineering services company."  Tata Technologies does extensive consulting work for clients such as  Ford  and  Chrysler , offing the "competitive advantage" of its experience in both developing and mature automotive markets, Harris said.  The prototype is Tata's "business card," said  Kevin Fisher , who heads the group's vehicle development team.  The objective was to demonstrate it was possible to build an electric vehicle with an attractive price, thought not with the intentio...

General Motors India (GMI) today showcased an electric version of its small car, 'Beat', as part of a global demonstration of the technology.  "We are delighted that Chevrolet selected India as an important market to test battery electric technology , while recognising the capabilities of our engineering team to help identify ways to make this technology more affordable," GMI President and MD Karl Slym told reporters here.  The electric Beat is powered by a lithium-ion battery and can go at least 130 km in a single charge under normal driving conditions.  General Motors will showcase the technology in other countries including Korea, China and Germany. [Source:media.gm.com]

Two Pune-based businessmen, dealing in electrical goods, have designed a solar-powered bike that can run upto to a distance of 250 kilometres on a sunny day. According to the the uncle-nephew duo Ayubkhan Pathan and Imrankhan Pathan, the bike can also be used to run electrical appliances like fan, computer or television when stationed at home and especially during load-shedding. Ayubkhan, who runs a company in Budhwar Peth in Pune for the last 20 years in the field of solar powered products and electrical goods, was working on this design for the last three years. The bike has a DC supply, DC battery charger and DC motor fitted to the wheel. Sun rays are used to charge the DC supply and then the battery through the solar PV panel. The provision for storage back up is for eight hours. "The bike can run to cover a distance of 50-60 km and there is a charger controller CRD fitted between the solar panel and the battery once fully charged the supply gets cut off. On a bright ...

Japanese two-wheeler major Yamaha plans to foray into the Indian scooter market by next year and will set up a separate body assembly line at its Surajpur plant in Uttar Pradesh for this purpose. The firm's wholly-owned subsidiary, India Yamaha Motor Pvt Ltd, is investing Rs 10 crore to set up the body assembly line at the plant. The Indian scooter market grew 50.54 per cent in 2010 and stood at 19.6 lakh units. It is dominated by Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, although other players like TVS Motor Co and Hero Honda have also witnessed good sales. Yamaha had also said it might consider launching an electric bike in the fast growing Indian two-wheeler market to offer an alternative mode of transportation. [Source: financialexpress ]

  Chevrolet Beat Diesel   Expected price:4-6 lakhs Ford Fiesta  Expected price:6.5-9 lakhs   Honda Brio Expected Price:4-5.5 lakhs   Audi A8   Hyundai Elantra  Expected Price:11-14 lakhs  Nissan Sunny Expected Price:7-9 lakhs   Suzuki Kizashi Expected Price:18lakhs   Skoda Sk215 Expected Price: 8-10 lakhs   Reva Nxg   Renault Fluence Expected Price:11-13lakhs   Suzuki Swift Expected Price : 4.5-6.5lakhs   Toyota Etios Liva Expected price:4-6lakhs  Volkswagen Jetta  Expected Price 15-18lakhs Volvo s60

Mahindra  REVA Electric Vehicles Pvt. Ltd. ( Mahindra REVA ), one of the pioneers of electric vehicle technology in India, announced that its  REVAi  vehicle will be available at 4 Mahindra dealerships in Pune. This is one of the major initiatives announced by the company post its acquisition by the US $ 7.1 billion Mahindra Group in May 2010. “We are delighted to launch the  REVAi  in Pune where there is already a great deal of interest in our vehicles. With issues such as climate change and carbon footprint taking centre stage globally, eco-friendly transportation has become the need of the hour. The electric vehicle market is hence, poised to grow rapidly. Mahindra’s extensive distribution network, coupled with our unique finance plan will help us make significant inroads into the local market,” said R. Chandramouli, Chief of Operations, Mahindra REVA. Mahindra REVAi  is a technologically advanced  car  equipped with a `boost’ mode for accel...

      Tata's first electric car, the Indica Vista EV will be manufactured in the UK Tata Motors  is now very close to completing work on the lithium-ion battery-powered version of the Indica Vista, which will be manufactured in the UK and which will go on sale in Europe early next year. The Vista EV, Tata Motors’ first production-spec  electric car , has been developed by the company’s UK subsidiary, Tata Motors European Technical Centre (TMETC) and will go into production at Tata’s West Midlands facility in the UK, later this month. The car, a fully electric four-seater hatchback that has a range of 175km and a top speed of 114km/h, will be offered in select European markets in 2011 and will be launched in various other markets (including, perhaps, India!) in 2012