REVA

The Reva factory

Reva factory plant which is in the process of being built has been designed in order to minimise waste of existing resources(green design). The roof is covered with insulation material(possibly glass wool or PUF) so it doesn’t let heat pass through. But strips are left uncovered to let sufficient amount of sunlight pass in order to light up the whole space. There are also solar panels which will be converted into electricity to charge the cars. There will also be a rainwater harvesting area.

Some of the Reva models are designed according to European specifications, for eg the cold climate in Norway has different requirements as compared to the summers of Rajasthan. (The extremes range from minus 20 degrees to plus 40 degrees) A chassy is the basic skeleton of the car. It is designed in such a way that it has sufficient strength to hold people, engine, etc. There are also crumple zones on the car which take the stress/damage in case of an accident, bef on it matters. 500 gms of added weight can make a huge difference affecting how much or how well it drives.

The Reva is meant to be charged overnight. There are talks of using solar energy for the same purpose of charging but it hasn’t yet been used at the Reva factory.

Hauling power is the pulling capacity of a car. The Reva runs on an electric motor driven by battery. It is designed in a frugal manner such that only basic amount of power is utilised as per the need. In a Reva, every ounce of weight that you exert

The Reva weighs 40 kilos more than a Maruti car.

The 2 seater costs 3.25 lacs whereas the 4 seater is around 6.5 lacs or 8000 euros. The four seater was launched in 2010.

How the Reva came into being: There was a particular students project which created a solar car. This project was sponsored by General Motors and came 3^rd in a competition. This inspired the makers of Reva to make an electric car. They started in 1994 in California and shifted to India in 1999.

It has 2 markets, Bangalore and London.

The Reva is not yet popular among car buyers. The early adopters of the Reva are mainly innovators and people who are conscious about saving the environment and having a green lifestyle.

The Chevrolet Spark car has been designed by the same makers in order to make it into an electric car as well.

These factory plants are localised where the cars can be customised according to the customers taste.

Mobile interaction with the car: by sending an sms you can tell how much charge is left or how much time it will take to charge the rest of the battery. One can even known the cabin temperature b just sending a text msg.

Revive: In case you run out of charge and you are stranded, you sms the Reva head office. They can activate the battery(RESERVE) which allows you to drive up to 8-10 kms more to reach the nearest charging station.

The batteries used are lithium batteries which can be charges anywhere. Usually they come with 5 m cables(15 feet).

What is a regenerative shock absorber? What is a regenerative break?

The latter, which is the regenerative break is used in a Reva. Both are new technologies that are coming up in order to regenerate power.

Assembly line:

The Reva assembly line comprises of 15 stages which are manually accomplished.

First the motor, transmission, cable and wheels are put together. Then come the electronics, then harness, then body panels. Once the wheels are assembled, moving the car from one stage to another is done just by pushing it ahead. Each stage takes 15-20 min. It takes 3 days for one car to reach the final stage. Here, 8 cars are assembled in one day.

Under chassy and break bleeding tests are carried out in the assembly line.

Earlier an alternating current(AC) motor was used to run the Reva but it has now been replaced by a direct current(DC) one. It has 8 batteries inside. The DC current from the motor is converted into AC. The power is calculated in kilowatts.

Final inspection: A quality control team checks the car at each stage and at the last stage if the car is approved, it puts 4 stickers on it to pass it.

We also saw the open air Reva design prototype.

The charging cost of Reva is 45 paisa per km.

New battery: One charging gives 80 km, after 2 years or so the battery begins to deteriorate.Batteries are called deep discharge batteries.

Maintenance: Once in a month, the battery required water. There is a nozzle at the charging point on the car through which water can be supplied to the batteries.

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