Comments
Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles Pvt Ltd, part of the $16.5 billion Mahindra Group, on Wednesday announced the launch of a new premium variant of the e2o with an extended range of 120 km and electric power steering.
Currently, one in five cars sold globally is an electric car, whose industry has a year-on-year growth rate of 80 per cent. The next five years are expected to witness a big shift from hydrocarbon to solar power and electricity-run vehicles, Chetan Maini, CEO, told reporters here.
Electric cars would provide mobility in the future as they have no maintenance or operational costs. Bhutan is also promoting pollution-free e-vehicles, he said.
In Gujarat, due to heavy taxes like 15% VAT and 6% road tax, applicable even on electric vehicles, the Premium variant of e2o will cost Rs 8.06 lakh (base model), while in Delhi it will cost Rs 5.72 lakh, besides a monthly energy fee of Rs 2,999 which will allow the customer to drive 50,000 km for a period of five years.
Seven states in the country have either reduced taxes on electricity-run vehicles to just 5% or levy no taxes at all, he said, urging the Gujarat Government to follow suit.
Goodbye Fuel, Hello Electric
Mahindra Reva has also introduced an ownership scheme called “Goodbye Fuel, Hello Electric” for the e2o. The programme separates the initial acquisition cost of e2o and the usage cost (in the form of battery and its maintenance) to make the car “more affordable”, he said.
Maini said the company will also guarantee performance of the battery as its ownership would lie with Mahindra Reva. “As part of the scheme, the customer would pay only for the distance driven and s/he could save more with electric mobility.”
Mahindra e2o Premium will be available with an electric power steering and an enhanced range of 120 km on one charge, along with other features like the infotainment system, driver information system, reverse parking camera etc.
He said with the company set to increase the number of charging centres in various cities, the battery charging time will be reduced from five hours to one hour.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.