Indian electric car

Businessworld
Sumati Nagrath

It has been called the ‘poster child for green transport’ by the UK’s The Daily Telegraph and features in the No. 1 slot of The Independent’s Best Cars list of 2007. Easily spotted while navigating London’s considerable human and vehicular traffic, India-made G-Wiz has, up till now, been the clear leader in the city’s fast growing electric vehicle (EV) market.

Manufactured by Bangalore-based Reva Electric Car Company (RECC), the G-Wiz was launched in the UK with an order of just 40 vehicles in 2004. “Today there are more than 900 units plying on London’s roads making it by far the company’s most successful market,” says Chetan Maini, deputy chairman and chief technical officer of RECC. One of the first players in the market, G-Wiz’s leadership position could be under threat because of the entry of competitors such as Nice Car Company’s Megacity and Future Vehicles’ Elettrica. London’s EV market is now a competitive one.

Maini is undeterred. Buoyed by the success of the G-Wiz in the UK, he is forecasting a 10-fold increase in worldwide sales from an estimated 3,000 in 2007 to an ambitious 30,000 units in 2008. Established in 1994 as a joint venture between the Maini Group India and AEV LLC, California, RECC has sold around 2,200 of these zero-emission city vehicles since they were first commercialised six years ago. According to Maini, exports account for about 70 per cent of Reva’s total sales.



Restricted only to London in the UK market, the tiny, almost dinky-car like G-Wiz has relied largely on word-of-mouth publicity to generate sales. The man behind the strategy and the near ubiquitous presence of this ‘quadracycle’ (the vehicle’s official categorisation under European norms) in central London is Keith Johnston, managing director of GoinGreen, the exclusive UK importer and retailer of G-Wiz.

“At a very early stage, we decided to adopt a purely online business model, which has allowed us to radically reduce costs,” says Johnston. These, he says, have been passed on to the consumers in the form of a lower retail price.

G-Wiz has played a vital role in popularising EVs in London. There is a city map on the wall of GoinGreen’s Southall office on which every customer is marked with a thumb tack. The pattern’s dense epicentre and gradual, but steady, outward spread is quite similar to that of the early stages of a viral outbreak.

This ‘viral’ spread of Reva is not restricted to London alone. Besides the UK, it is currently being sold in Italy, Malta, Cyprus, Norway, Spain, Ireland, Japan, Sri Lanka, and being test marketed in Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Nepal and Greece. But can this success be replicated in India where sales remain sluggish?




Green Is The New Black

While the innovative efforts of GoinGreen are commendable, there are other compelling reasons for the success of the G-Wiz in London. Even as concerns about climate change are paramount, an EV such as G-Wiz makes for an environmentally conscious buy. EVs can be charged from standard mains power supply anywhere. A study by a UK-based transport consultancy shows that even if we include the environmental costs of procuring the electricity that is used to charge the G-Wiz, it still only emits 63 gm CO2/km, compared to 170 gm CO2/km, the UK national average.

While motorists want to reduce their carbon footprints, they are also tempted by the various concessions offered by different local authorities within London. That’s what prompted Andy Hill, CEO of Broadchart, a music and technology company, to opt for a G-Wiz. “No parking hassles, no congestion charge, environmentally friendly, convenience,” is how he describes his reasons for buying the G-Wiz.

Without the special concessions this choice may not have been made. “My decision to buy the G-Wiz was influenced by these policies,” says Hill. “Without parking concessions, I would not have bought an electric vehicle.”

The Westminster City Council, in the late 1990s, introduced a raft of provisions for EVs. They are exempt from parking charges and also have access to free on-street electric car-charging points in Covent Garden, the cultural heart of the city. Other local councils have followed suit. All EVs are exempt from road tax and the daily London Congestion Charge of £8 (Rs 648), which is worth over £2,000 (Rs 1,62,000) per annum.

Policy Potholes

Environmental consciousness aside, economics, too, is a factor in the purchase decision. EVs lack government support in India. “Countries such as France, Japan, China and the US offer various subsidies, exemptions and parking privileges to EV owners,” says Maini. “In India, the excise duty for EVs remains fixed at 8 per cent, while it has been reduced from 40 per cent to 16 per cent for regular cars.”

In fact, the initial subsidy of Rs 1,05,000 for EVs was abruptly removed after just one year (1997-98). A reduced central subsidy scheme was reintroduced by Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources in 2002-03 but made applicable only to certain institutions and is not available to individuals.

Efforts made by London city councils have been one of the key driving forces behind the take up of EVs. “The concessions and the charging points are very helpful,” says Angela Campbell-Noe, CEO of Hat Pin Plc. “If there were no charging points in Central London, it would be impossible for me to get around in a G-Wiz.” Government support is indispensable if EVs are to be popularised in the country. “I have spoken to government officials and get lots of nodding heads, but none of that translates into policy decisions,” says Maini.




Buying an EV is not just about making an economically wise decision, it is also an environmentally sound choice that comes along with other lifestyle changes, which a majority of middle-class Indians are not yet ready to make.

If EVs in general and Reva in particular have to take off in India, three factors must come together — technological development from the manufacturers, favourable government policy, and environmental consciousness of the potential customers.