Mahindra Group may test launch their electric car – e2o – in Amsterdam, a city known as a hotspot for electric vehicles.
The city promotes electric vehicle usage through a dense network of public charging points, standardised charging plugs, and subsidy schemes for electric vehicles.
Amsterdam has about 500 charging points for electric vehicles and the number is set to go up to 1,000 this year, according to Jolanda van der Aart, Senior Area Manager-Asia, India Desk, Amsterdam in Business, an arm of the city Government.
The Mahindra Group is looking to introduce electric cars in Amsterdam, just as many car manufacturers use Amsterdam as a test market, she said.
Chetan Maini, Chief of Strategy and Technology, Mahindra Reva, told Business Line that discussions were on with at least 10 countries globally for exporting e2o.
Tests required
However, unlike the earlier Reva cars, the new car will have to undergo certain tests that are required to export to Europe.
“The new vehicles will be categorised under M1, which means like any other car sold in Europe, it has to have a crash test, ABS and airbags,” Maini said.
The earlier Reva was exempted from most European crash test rules because of its low weight and power, and it was registered in the European ‘heavy quadricycle’ category instead of the ‘car’ category.
Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles, part of the Mahindra Group, launched e2o earlier this year, and announced plans to export vehicles to Europe next year. Formerly known as Reva Electric Car Company, it was acquired by Mahindra Group in 2010 and rechristened Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles Private Ltd .
Based out of Bangalore, the previous company was the brainchild of Maini and was founded in 1994 as a joint venture between the Maini Group and Amerigon Electric Vehicle Technologies of the US.
Till recently, Reva sold around 5,000 electric cars globally and around 2,200 were exported to 24 countries such as the UK, Norway, France, Germany, Spain, Japan and Costa Rica.
However, the company is now in the transition period after acquisition by Mahindra Group and is looking to export the Mahindra-branded e2o from early next year.
Meanwhile, Amsterdam has signed partnership agreements with Nissan/Renault, Mitsubishi and PSA Citroen to promote electric transport and the supply of electric cars to the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. The city is also involved in the development process for standard charging plugs. The defined standard applies for all Dutch and European car manufacturers.
The city has witnessed the launch of different electric cars and services built around electric cars. They include US-based Tesla Motors; Car2Go, which is Daimler’s car sharing services; Taxi-E, a taxi service firm that uses Nissan’s electric cars with free WiFi facility.
For charging, there is The New Motion, a station service provider. Another firm in the space is Better Place, which provides battery charging stations.
US-based Tesla Motors, which assembles electric vehicles in the Netherlands, has stated that reservations from the Netherlands were one of the highest in any country in Europe.
(Mamuni Das was in Amsterdam recently on the invitation of Amsterdam in Business)