Reva is Fun, Easy, Good, Economical and Nature Friendly
Friend of mine Lavanya acquired a Reva last month. Since I have never driven an electric car this was my best chance. So both of us reached parking lot but unfortunately we couldn't take it outside parking lot(that's another story). So I decided to take it for a spin inside the parking lot itself. At first you will doubt weather this car can take two people. But then you will be amazed how comfortably it can accommodate two and still has place for some luggage at back.
As usual as soon as you enter you will search for gear level (It has seat belts) but there is none. There is a switch for Drive, Neutral, Reverse and Booster. Booster is for extra power when you want to climb, the rest are self explanatory. Driving is very, very easy. If you know to ride a bicycle then you can drive this car. Even if you don't know to ride a bicycle you can drive this car. You just use you right leg to handle both brake and accelerator. The dashboard has regular meters cum battery level indicator. It doesn't make any noise. It just need place of two wheelers for parking.
It can easily accommodate two normal sized humans (I mean 70Kgs and below 6ft). Absence of the engine in front means good leg space.The back seat is for kids or small luggage. The extra tyre is in the front below the hood. Don't expect everything to be automatic. You are pretty young.
Even though I didn't do speed test, according to the owner it can go up to 70kmph. But around 50kmph is the safe speed. It does the corners easily ( I climbed the circular ramp at good speed). The pick up is good on a normal road and it was decent on climb in regular drive (I didn't try booster). Steering is easy and soft. There is seat belt for front seats. I am not sure about the safety features but I guess its lot better than your two wheeler.
With fully charged batteries you can go up to 80Kms. You can recharge 80% of the battery in three hrs and the rest takes another four hours. With less than a rupee per km it competes with your two wheeler. But it beats your two wheeler in price (of course higher), pollution (No direct) and safety.
Verdict: It can't be your first car just because you can't take it on a long drive. But if you want vehicle to drive inside the city or to go to work or your old parents to drive, then it works pretty well. Its a comfortable drive if you just want to go to office. Its is Fun, Easy, Good, Economical and Nature Friendly.
PS: Reva is from Maini, Bangalore based company.
PS: After watching Top Gear, I am not used to read any other reviews ;-)
I would like to try this car too, but I have my own doubts. You clearly specified pickup and power were decent enough, but can you tell how much in comparison to an 800 or zen?
Nice post, I was feeling like am the one who is riding it!
With your explanation Reva seems to be perfect for city rides. But for now I am comfortable with BMTC :)
I felt even more better about the Reva after reading this :)
If I may answer Veetrag’s question.. it would be like comparing apples and oranges. Reva is an ‘electriCity’ car and is meant for commuting in the city rather driving around for pleasure. I would say that the Reva wouldn’t embarass you in the middle of traffic.. and you can comfortably overtake some lorries too.
@Lavanya Thanks for replying, my purpose was not to compare the cars directly, I just wanted to estimate the power and since they are the only cars I have driven, it was my benchmark.
I have seen many Reva during my stay at Bangalore and was impressed with how much useful they were in a congested city. If I ever have enough money, I would get a Reva for daily city use and other fast car for outside.
How much does it cost these days ?
Also while electricity is better than other fuels, the way electricity is made in our country isn’t that environment friendly either – coal based ones that pollutes the atmosphere and hydro ones which is interrupting nature and inundating lot of forest area are not really environment friendly. So the pure one remains a bicycle.
@Veetrag : Yup. I am not competing with them. It was on their show sometime back and of course they didn’t like it :) . I cant compare it with petrol car like 800 or zen. (BTW old zen beats even best of small cars any day). I would say it is as powerful as a 400cc engine. Good enough for city drive.
@Prashanth : Cool. Then I will do more test drives.
@Jayadeep Purushothaman : Completely agree.
Nice review dude.. Dint know the Reva was this good.. It’s still a strict no no for me cos it’s not for the 6′ plus guys!
P.S: Is this like your fav tee?? I see you in this all the time! :D
This is an awesome car… A different phenomenon all together. My uncle work in the Reva car company. So have had a lot of opportunities in taking the little thing for the spin….
with prolonged pwoer cuts in summer and in other periods of year, whats the backup fuel option?
In India,as long as there is power cut, Reva might not sell well..
Price of Reva is terribly high for a farmer like me. I have solar panels of 1800 watts which is connected to a pump & domestic circuit. I do have a surplus of about 10 units a day. It can easily charge & my daily run is about 40 km. unfortunately cannot afford it & not being income ptax payer, I have no depreciation benefit.
Although I like the concept of this car, I don’t think the price is justified. I wouldn’t shell out so much money for a car that cannot take me from a city to another city without a recharge for 7 hours. I can easily get a more powerful small car for half the price and use the rest of the money for fuel!
But yes, I wouldn’t be saving the enviroment then, would I? :D