Comments
Exactly a year after dissolving its partnership with Reva to build small electric vehicles (EVs), General Motors India (GMI) will showcase this month an electric version of the Beat hatchback. This compact car has been developed in-house with support from its global technical teams.
A company official told Business Line that the electric Beat would have a range of around 130 km and batteries would take eight hours to charge. The electric motor is believed to produce 45 kW (about 60 hp) of power, which is almost as powerful as most compact cars in the market.
“The plan is to just showcase our technology and organise test drives for a few people. The vehicles will be assembled here from parts designed and sourced globally. We are not looking to launch this immediately as we do not have the right charging infrastructure for EVs in this country as yet,” said the GM official.
In May 2010, GM exited its partnership with Reva Electric Car Company, after domestic automaker Mahindra & Mahindra bought 55.2 per cent stake in Reva. Under the original plan, the GM-Reva tie-up was expected to result in an electric Spark by the end of 2010.
The Beat will also find a one-litre diesel engine under its hood from next month onwards. This will be the smallest passenger-car diesel engine sold in the country and could also find its way to GM's other small cars, like U-va and Spark.
“We have had a miss in the mini-car segment by not having a diesel option. We expect this variant to garner a 70 per cent share of the total sales of the car,” said Mr Karl Slym, President and Managing Director, GMI.
Another official added, “At present, the new diesel engine is for the Beat. But going forward we will look at other options.”
GM is also adding production of three more engines (including another diesel) of below 1.5-litre capacity at its new Talegaon plant. Two of these could be used for the Chevrolet Sail mid-size sedan, which is likely to debut early next year. The plant currently makes a one-litre diesel and a 1.2-litre petrol engine.
roudra.b@thehindu.co.in
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.