Chetan Maini made toy electric cars, from scratch, at age 11 in India. These days, he works at life scale. Maini, 39, is the co-founder and chief technology officer at the world's most successful electric car company. Reva, based in Bangalore, has more than 3,000 cars on Indian and European roads.
Maini's interest in electric cars led him first to the University of Michigan. As an undergraduate, he placed first with a team that raced a solar car from Florida to Michigan, then third in a similar international competition in Australia. He arrived at Stanford in 1992. "It was one of the few colleges in the world that had special classes on smart product design, integrating mechanics, electronics and software," he says. When he went back to India in the summers, he began to realize the huge potential for affordable, environmentally friendly vehicles.
For a few years, Maini worked in California on electric drivetrains—the power-management components of electric vehicles. He relocated to Bangalore in 1999 after California rolled back a 1990 mandate that 10 percent of new cars sold in the state be nonpolluting. In 2001, he launched Reva's first model and began exporting to Europe three years later. The 8-foot, two-door, four-seat hatchback is about the size of a standard Indian auto-rickshaw and fits two comfortably. (A third passenger can squeeze in sideways in the back.)
The latest model, the Reva L-ion, is powered by lithium-ion batteries and a solar panel on the roof. With a top speed of about 50 mph, the car requires six hours for a full charge and one hour for 90 percent charge. The price varies according to country, but in New Delhi, tax breaks, rebates and subsidies can bring the car's price down to around $6,000.
Reva models collectively have been driven nearly 43.5 million miles in 20 major cities in Asia, Europe and South America. They have been acquired by an organic supermarket chain in Spain and by Indian police. With no spark plugs or oil filters to change, Reva mechanics come armed only with laptops.
Reva has introduced two new models that will be manufactured in a solar-powered auto plant outside Bangalore. And in September Maini announced a partnership with General Motors India to pair Reva's sophisticated electronic drivetrains with GM's manufacturing capabilities. GM cars with Maini's technology should be hitting India's roads within a year.
By late 2010, it may be possible to buy a Reva in the United States. In October, the company announced a license agreement with Bannon Automotive to open a plant in Syracuse, N.Y.
