Reva EV

K Maini S

Description

To counter seas of cars, rising petrol prices, and snarling traffic-Reva Electric Vehicle is India's offering to the world in the shape of a zero emission, green mobility option. Dr Maini recounts the story of Reva-India's first commercial electric vehicle-from the inception, ideation, designing the car to taking it to the world. It is a story coloured with hope, determination, disappointment, success, and jubilation-it is the passion for making green commuting a viable possibility come alive in these pages from Reva's journey. It is the story of a team that believed in its products against all odds. A story of many firsts, this book is an immortal account of India soundly on the forefront of electric vehicle movement with this unique car.

Sujets

• Gestion et management
• Environmental science
• Environmentalist
• Economics

Informations

• Publié par: Random House Publishers India Pvt. Ltd.
• Date de parution: 11 juin 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788184004274
• Langue: English

Extrait

REVA EV
India s Green Gift to the World
REVA EV
India s Green Gift to the World
Dr S.K. Maini
Published by Random House India in 2013
Copyright S.K. Maini 2013
Random House Publishers India Private Limited Windsor IT Park, 7th Floor, Tower-B A-1, Sector-125, Noida-201301, UP
Random House Group Limited 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road London SW1V 2SA United Kingdom
This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author s and publisher s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
EPUB ISBN 9788184004274
Contents
Introduction
Prologue
The Beginning of an Idea
Destiny s Child
A Meeting of Minds
Reva Comes Home
A Group Effort
On the Road
Going Global
Innovations and Technological Developments
Against All Odds
Reva Wows the World
Mahindra Rises
Future of the EV
Accolades From Around the World
Acknowledgements
A Note on the Authors
Introduction
E ntrepreneurship is the toughest endurance test one chooses to put oneself through. It is only dogged perseverance and the deepest of self-belief that equip you to take on the gut-wrenching challenges of entrepreneurship and emerge successful. I believe Chetan Maini is one entrepreneur and innovator who is the embodiment of this can-do spirit.
He has traversed this unforgiving terrain in his car, Reva-which was, at first, only an exciting and innovative idea. Today, it is one of the leading electric vehicles (EVs) in the world and his company is ranked as one of the most innovative globally. Chetan Maini has sparked an EVolution that can provide a viable solution for the unbearable traffic congestion and unhealthy pollution we face in urban areas in India and around the world. His Reva wears its Innovated in India tag with pride.
When he launched a prototype of the car in 1996 and called it Reva, it was a highly symbolic name. Not only is it the name of his mother, an elegant and strong woman who has supported Chetan Maini through his difficult journey, but it is also a Sanskrit word that means new beginning . The Reva is a new beginning in every sense. For Chetan Maini is a true pioneer-not only has he innovated a new paradigm in affordable and clean transportation, but he has attained success in a new area of business and in a new technology on the strength of his convictions.
In that respect, we share an ethos of building our businesses on relatively unexplored technology and have consequently faced numerous credibility and investment challenges. We were both pioneering in our entrepreneurial approach and, if I may say so, ahead of our times.
It was an innate passion for automobile engineering, electric technology and solar vehicles that led him to develop Reva. This was a time when EVs as a technology were unproven commercially, oil prices were comparatively low, and pollution was not yet regarded as a major issue. Gathering funding for the project was a major challenge for Chetan Maini; he succeeded in getting venture capital after expending a lot of effort to convince banks. He also needed to overcome the challenge of developing an innovative EV technology that could help him bring a viable and cost-effective Reva to the Indian roads. He succeeded in developing the car, but faced an unexpected shock when the Indian government withdrew subsidies for EVs just as Reva was being launched.
The challenge of convincing the marketplace and consumers was probably the toughest. Reva was a spirited but tiny two-door vehicle, seating a mere two and a half people at a squeeze and costing the same-if not more-than its nearest conventional-fuel small car competitor. Moreover, there was no infrastructure in place to support charging of EVs in public places. And being the only company in this space, it did not have the customary support that auto-companies gather from a readymade ecosystem-Reva had to build the entire EV ecosystem. Needless to say, Chetan Maini faced tremendous skepticism. Who would buy an EV?
As a friend, I would worry about the mountain his tiny car had to ascend. But Chetan Maini-and the Reva-is made of stern stuff. The innovator-founder persevered against all these odds, battling on to achieve his dream of building a sustainable business driven by an innovative electric car that was affordable and efficient. His proud father, Sudarshan Maini, stood by him all the way, and wife Kim and the rest of his family provided unflinching support. Chetan Maini got his first round of new investment of 20 million from VCs which helped him to develop new models. He started selling Reva in the UK, under the name G-Wiz, which led to the development of public EV charging infrastructure in London.
Constant reinvention is a fundamental requirement in any entrepreneurial endeavour. I have always believed that you should never be fixated on something just because you started it. Instead as opportunities beckon and better prospects for growth are found, I believe that one should change one s business model ensuring that core values are kept intact. As a true entrepreneur, Chetan Maini knows how to evolve with the demands of time. Having gained increasing respect in a market that was now willing to buy EVs, he sold a controlling stake in the business to the Mahindra Group in order to inject the necessary capital and expertise required to take Reva to the next level. Chetan Maini continues to be involved with the company with total dedication-for Reva is his dream car and will remain so.
As Chetan proves, we must have an idea that we believe in and work towards attaining it. He has attained success by forever challenging the status quo, innovating his product, and reinventing the company by partnering with organizations across the globe to establish synergies in research, development, and marketing. This book offers lessons in innovation and entrepreneurship and is a fitting tribute to Chetan Maini s fighting spirit. As the company he founded launches the e20, I wish Chetan and his father Sudarshan Maini all the success that they deserve.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
CMD, Biocon Ltd
Prologue
R eva EV: India s Green Gift to the World is a story of dreams, explorations, perseverance, and exponential growth. The germ of the idea for a small car for India occurred to me in 1956 when, as a student of engineering in Loughborough College, Leicestershire, I was invited to spend Christmas with a German family in Dusseldorf. I saw a number of small three wheelers like Gogomobil and Issetta (which were like cars, but smaller and slower), and it occurred to me that similar vehicles would be ideal for Indian cities. Those were the days before India was over-run by the ubiquitous three-wheeled auto rickshaws.
I started Maini Precision Products in 1973, after resigning as the General Production Manager from MICO, India s largest auto component supplier, now known as Bosch. In 1982, we started a new production line at Maini Precision for which we needed to stack containers one over the other. The task required a forklift truck or a stacker and we found that there were no stackers available in India at that time; only forklift trucks powered by diesel engines were available. I was keen on getting an electric stacker to ensure that there was no pollution within the factory. After technical collaboration with the Danish company Vestergard, we became the first company to manufacture electric stackers in India.
During the course of my business meetings in Europe, I had met an Italian Auto designer who sent me designs for a small car with a 49CC engine and maximum speed of 30 km/h. It occurred to me while manufacturing the electric stackers, that instead of making a small two seater IC engine car, we could make a non-polluting electric car. Spiraling oil prices had by then spurred the automobile industry to start working on fuel-efficient vehicles and pollution from fossil fuels was already becoming a concern.
Around the same time, my youngest son Chetan was studying engineering in the University of Michigan and was a part of the solar car team of his college which came third in the World Solar Championships in Australia in 1990. When Chetan came home for a holiday, we welcomed him with an electric run-about that we had built to take visitors around our factory. We named this vehicle Chets to encourage Chetan in his endeavour. I had a second motive too, that of showing Chetan who had been away from home while our company had grown substantially, that the Maini Group had the potential of making electric cars in India.
Indian products for long had a bad image in the world and as an engineer, I fervently wanted India to be ahead of the rest of the world in at least one technology and an Electric Vehicle seemed the right idea. The idea gained ground when Mr N. Vittal, then Secretary of Department of Electronics (now Ministry of Information Technology), Government of India, presented a paper at the Indo-US Workshop on Electronic/Electric Vehicles-Technology Policy Issues on March 7, 1995 titled Can India be a leader in Electric Vehicles? Mr Vittal argued the case for India to take the lead in electric vehicles and recommended that the government should help Indian entrepreneurs to take up such projects.
In the meanwhile, Chetan went to Stanford for his Masters degree where he produced an electric hybrid car. Thereafter he started working with American entrepreneur Dr Lon Bell at Amerigon and became the head of the electric car division. Soon, Dr Lon Bell was convinced of the synergy between our companies and in 1994 we finalized the collaboration for making electric cars