[kamyfc]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Given the flat torque curve of an electric motor / max torque at virtually 0 rpm -- this should be able to climb the steepest of hills.

As mentioned in the review, I took it up the steepest climbs i could find, and it did them with ease. Using boost mode will speed things up.

cya
R

Anyone worried bout Grades and Hills need to just check out my Pune to Lavasa video.

What i found is that - Bcos of the instant torque of an electric car, especially from 0-40 kmph. It feels effortless especially when u start and stop during bends.

I drove the Hyundai i10 on the same ghat and i could see i really had to step on the pedal as the engine takes time to rev up and this made it frustrating.

The Electric motor > Engine for crazy bends, where u need to start stop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BltPapD0pcw

[saket77]

Went to 'Birsa Jaivik Udyaan', also known as Ormanjhi Zoo which is about 25 Kms from Ranchi City. Had the chance to roam around in an electric vehicle inside the huge premises for about an hour. The EV was made by CarrieAll, a Chennai based company which specializes in making electric vehicles.

Website: http://www.carrieallcar.com/

The car had a capacity of about 11 passengers including one driver, so in all, the vehicle could carry about 11 people with ease. It moved briskly upto speeds of 20KMPH, but I had a feeling that if given the road, it can do at least double that speed. The ride was very smooth and despite at least 12 people on board, it felt nimble on its feet. The suspension felt very good and much better than the diesel autorickshaws chucking on our roads.

The transmission was automatic (D,P & R). Had a nice feeling during the entire ride knowing that there is no noise pollution and emissions due to this vehicle. Posting some pictures of the vehicle.

[honeybee]

Had a chance to test drive the e2o last weekend.

The battery was barely 14% when I entered and by the time we could figure out how to authenticate the key, the charge reduced further as I had the AC running to beat the heat.

The low charge meant two things: the car lost any pickup as the battery dropped below 10%, and the AC was automatically switched off to conserve battery. Both meant for the good of the vehicle but very very bad for a test drive.

Ergonomics, especially the seating position was not at all comfy, as my right leg started paining soon in the 10 minute test drive. Getting out was a pain since I had pulled up the seat much forward, any my knee scraped the dashboard. I guess the Nano has spoilt me.

Rear visibility through the internal mirror was pathetic, while the ORVMs were a tad better.

The touchscreen reminds me of my old Windows Mobile phone with a resistive touchscreen. It's good there are a few buttons around, else you would end up scratching your head and the touchscreen both.

The economics make it a not so good choice for someone like me who already owns a Nano. At 20k kms a year and at Rs. 80 a litre with a conservative 20kmpl, my TCO comes to around 7L in five years. With e2o the TCO makes the same figure. Only add the financing cost of Rs. 50k, and the cost of hiring another vehicle for the long trips, and the scales tip in favour of the petrol car.

Even for a Pune trip which is 150+ kms one way, I need to stop en route and spend the better part of an hour to charge the car. Something I am not ok with. Too much inconvenience, even after considering the car would have a fast charging mechanism to fully charge the batteries in one hour.

The biggest difference is with a car like the Nano, the capex is small and the running cost high, while with the e2o the capex is high and the running cost low. This means if I reduced my car use in future, the TCO for the petrol car would be much lower but not so in case of the e2o.

The economics may work out for someone owning or looking for a higher end hatch.

I have tried to only give an economic perspective, and don't want to clutter up the discussion with other nitty gritties like charging infrastructure or opportunity costs.

Considering this is being marketed as a city car and a second car, it would be best to take out the last row of seats, lose some weight, make it more aerodynamic and boost the range to about 150 kms. Mahindra is trying to make it all in one which won't make sense today.

[rahuldevnath]

Spotted this Mahindra E2o in the outskirts of Bangalore, near the Mahindra plant.

One amazing test driving! With 5 people on board, the driver was torture testing the vehicle. On almost negligible amount roads (rural road near jigani industrial area, where even SUVs would shy), the driver maintained 30-50Kmph, where I was just managing with 20Kmph on Beat D with upsized tyres. E20 was bouncing like a pogo stick, but it was heartening to see that the car still remained in one piece!

Later, the car switched on the hazard lights. Presumingly it came on limp back mode. Yet, zoomed off at more than 60Kmph after coming to a halt briefly.

[Rehaan]

Mahindra e2o to get power steering :

Smart-cat Shiju Alex has managed to get this information straight from Mahindra itself (via their facebook page).

What's especially great is the ability for existing e2o owners to retro-fit the power-steering unit to their cars as well!


source

cya
R

[Shivank]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Mahindra e2o to get power steering :

Smart-cat Shiju Alex has managed to get this information straight from Mahindra itself (via their facebook page).

What's especially great is the ability for existing e2o owners to retro-fit the power-steering unit to their cars as well!

Considering that it has a motor that produces 25-odd bhp, and with the power steering coming in, what would be the wheels getting?

[kamyfc]

Here are some updates, from reliable sources at Reva

a) Power Steering can be bought by existing owners
b) There are talks of increasing the range to 120 km with just a software update.
c) Existing customers can install a quickport for DC fast charging!

Now this is the magic of electric cars. These cars get better with time.

Compare that to grimy oil based cars, that gets worse with time

[wirefree]

A three-month vacation and the battery is completely useless. wow!

I believe it costs half the cost of the car.

Couple of points:

1. I receive an auto-SMS everytime for leaving the hand-brakes off. There was no intimation while the car was dying.

2. I scanned the Owner's Manual end to end, posthumously admittedly, but found no mention of this case.

Anyone on my side on this?

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by wirefree

A three-month vacation and the battery is completely useless. wow!

Have you asked Reva about this?

With Li-ions sometimes it takes something special to bring the battery back to life after the voltage has dropped beyond a certain point (eg. Moto G & old Nexus 7).

Once that is done, it should behave perfectly again.

cya
R

[dZired]

Mahindra e2o to get power steering, a four-door variant.

SOURCE: AUTOCAR INDIA WEBSITE

Mahindra’s latest electric vehicle, the e2o, will soon get a power steering-equipped variant. Customer feedback has pointed out that the steering of the e2o feels heavy at low speeds and hence Mahindra will introduce a new electric power steering for the e2o. What remains to be seen is how much load is added to the e2o due to the power-steering setup and what effect that has on its range. Also in the works is a four-door variant that is aimed at increasing practicality of the car.

[abacusv]

Off late I'm seeing drop in the efficiency. Ideal driving conditions is giving me just 75-80km per charge. I've reported this to m&m they are yet to come back.


Has anyone facing the same problem?

[Aditya]

Mahindra Reva has introduced a Premium variant of the E2O electric car with electric power steering and a 120 km range.

Link to Team-BHP News Article

[samabhi]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Mahindra Reva has introduced a Premium variant of the E2O electric car with electric power steering and a 120 km range.

Link to Team-BHP News Article

Thanks for sharing the news. Why is it that the Premium one has more ground clearance when compared to the base variant? 168 vs 180 mm.

Also did Mahindra Reva stop the Quick2Charge model? Moreover the prices for the new premium version are not listed for other Cities like Bangalore.

[crisscross]

Why hasn't mahindra launched e2o in chennai? My wife wants an automatic e2o seems perfect for our needs except that it is not available in chennai.

[kamyfc]

Originally Posted by crisscross

Why hasn't mahindra launched e2o in chennai? My wife wants an automatic e2o seems perfect for our needs except that it is not available in chennai.

Hi,

I had an invitation to visit the Mahindra REVA factory. I had blogged bout the wonderful factory.

I spoke to the National Sales Manager and apparently they are not selling in many states as (Very high VAT etc), which makes selling the e2o unviable in those states.

Apparently they are working on it. But sadly the governments are not relenting.

Now, this is the answer i got. But there might be other factors, which we can only speculate