REVA announces lithium electric car and fast charge stations

[MB]

REVA announces lithium-ion electric car and fast charge station

Reva Electric Car Company (REVA), the market and technology-leader in the EV (electric vehicle) personal transport segment, announces the European launch of its lithium-ion (li-ion) battery powered EV the REVA L-ion.

Based on the REVAi platform, the latest version of the world’s best selling city electric car, the REVA L-ion is the result of more than two years of testing with a range of 120 km (75 miles) per charge and a maximum speed of 80 km (50 miles) per hour.

REVA is also introducing a fast charge station capable of charging the REVA L-ion to 90% in one hour.

REVA’s proven EV platform now offers an increased range, faster acceleration, shorter charging time, less energy consumption, improved cold weather performance, maintenance-free battery operation and a longer operating life. REVA has also developed a new proprietary intelligent battery management system for the L-ion that tracks the performance of each cell for uninterrupted performance, which allows a three-year battery warranty to be provided to customers.
                                                    Research conducted by Professor Julia King for 2008’s King Review of low carbon cars concludes that 93% of car journeys are less than 40 kms (25 miles) and 97% are less than 80 kms (50 miles).

REVA’s own data, based on 55 million kms of driving habits by customers in 20 cities worldwide also reflects the nature of every day city driving and the number of short trips, hence REVA’s decision to offer this combination of increased range and speed, which extends the REVA's usage to the suburbs and means that up to 95% of all car journeys can be completed without the requirement to recharge.

The new REVA off-board fast charge station uses three-phase power. It is primarily aimed at organisations that require constant vehicle availability during the day and will be offered to purchase or lease. The REVA L-ion’s normal full charging time is six hours using ordinary mains electricity, compared to eight hours for the REVAi with lead acid batteries.

"With the REVAi and REVA L-ion, we are now able to offer a choice of performance options to suit commuter needs and preferences. The introduction of fast charge stations really opens up the market to reach new customers and increase the availability of EVs. Local authorities and businesses can now create the charging and parking infrastructure necessary to make zero-emission personal transport an everyday reality," said Chetan Maini, REVA’s deputy chairman and chief technology officer.

The REVA L-ion EV and fast charge stations will be available to pre-order from REVA distributors in Norway, UK, France, Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Belgium and Ireland from February 2009, with the first test drive vehicles and customer deliveries commencing May 2009. Customers will have the option of outright purchase or battery leasing, with prices to be announced by the end of January.  

REVA’s European expansion, under the guidance of Keith Johnston, president of European operations, will continue throughout 2009, with new distributors being sought in all European countries.

REVA is also developing upgrade kits that will enable existing REVAi owners with a lead acid power train to upgrade to the lithium-ion power train later in 2009.

[marctorrance]

Sounds good.  I guess the "faster acceleration" comes exclusively from the reduced weight of the batteries - somewhere around 75kg-100kg I'd guess.

No sign of the promised upgrade option for the AC models.

I wonder how much it will cost?  A retro-fit might not be worth it...

[merouby]

So, will this replace the Gwiz i's, or be sold alongside it?  What impact will this have on price??  Also it doesn't seem that there will be an upgrade path for older DC/AC cars either (short of the new G-Wiz i)

[nat]

So, will this replace the Gwiz i's, or be sold alongside it?  What impact will this have on price??  Also it doesn't seem that there will be an upgrade path for older DC/AC cars either (short of the new G-Wiz i)

You are quite right ...
...
questions, questions.

[MB]

The new car will be sold alongside the existing car and not replace it. The plan is to have the lead acid batteries as the 'entry level' option and the lithium-ion batteries as the premium option.

When I spoke to Keith Johnston about this last week, he told me that the 120km (75 mile) range was a genuine range that owners should be able to achieve on their cars without having to resort to 'ultra-economy' driving. The cars have been on test for quite some time and tested in a variety of conditions.

Incidentally, this press release is for Europe only. India will receive the lithium-ion option later on this year.

Lithium ion batteries are not cheap. Reva are currently looking at different options to keep the lithium ion version of the car as affordable as possible. Of course with the banks not lending money at the moment, it makes a leasing plan more difficult to arrange.

We won't have to wait long (I hope!) before the costs are finally sorted out and we'll know how much lithium ion batteries will cost.

As to upgrades for older models, I shall find out what the current plan is for that. Reva have always said that they wouldn't have an upgrade path for the original dc-drive car so I suspect there will be no change there.

What is actually more exciting to me is the fast charging points. I'm talking to three companies at the moment about fast charging networks and I think we'll see some good progress in this regard in the next eighteen months or so.

Fast chargers aren't cheap - don't expect to get one thrown in free with your car - and as a result, Reva are targetting these at fleet users and local government authorities. However, it got me thinking. Have a look at this map:



This map shows a fifty mile radius of Central London. In theory, a lithium-ion powered Reva could drive to any of these points from Central London without requiring a recharge.

Now that is fine, so long as you can park your car and leave it on charge for a few hours at the other end of your journey. But what if you wanted to go further than 50 miles?

If you look at the main roads that leave London, there aren't that many of them: I can count eleven in total - the M11, the A12, M2, M20, A23, A3, M3, M4, M40, M1 and the A1(M). Okay, so you could probably count the A303 as well if you wanted making it twelve.

If fast charging points could be installed at around the 50 mile mark along these roads, most of the South of England and South Midlands becomes accessible from a lithium-ion powered Reva starting from Central London.

Taking this further:



Drawing a similar circle around Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester, you only need a further 13 charging points strategically placed around all these cities to extend the range of the cars even further afield.

Of course, you would need to then start filling in the gaps as well - fast charging points in major cities and towns - but my point is that with a relatively small network you could start opening up the possibilities of electric cars.

It would mean that for people who only occasionally drive longer distances, they could quite feasibly ditch the internal combustion engine and use an electric car all the time.

[marctorrance]

So, will this replace the Gwiz i's, or be sold alongside it?

From the article:

With the REVAi and REVA L-ion, we are now able to offer a choice of performance options to suit commuter needs and preferences

As Mike pointed out, it looks like both will be available.  The lithium ion model may also have a different name in the UK:  the "G-Wiz Lion"?

If fast charging points could be installed at around the 50 mile mark along these roads, most of the South of England and South Midlands becomes accessible from a lithium-ion powered Reva starting from Central London.

You'd have to be prepared to drive it on the motorway first, and wait an hour every 50 miles to recharge, so your average speed would drop to 25 mph.  Although if you were only stopping once and didn't count the time to recharge at either end, that would increase to 33 mph.

[clickwhirr]

It will be interesting to see what sort of price they wil charge for a Li-ion version of the car, and how much to upgrade a PB car as well.

[marctorrance]

This is a bold move from RECC - they are taking such a big risk.  The retail price of 75kg of lithium batteries is somewhere around £10000, if you buy in packs of 1kg.  So RECC might be able to get the same quantity for £7000.  Considering that the lead-acid packs are worth ~£1000, I'd be very surprised if they could offer the lithium option for less than a £6000 premium.  So it looks like it will roughly double the cost of a basic model.

Add to that these market conditions:
a) Europe is in a deepening recession
b) the size of the London congestion zone will be decreasing in 2010
c) using the extra range to drive away from central London takes away many of the benefits while increasing the cost,
and it starts to look pretty risky.

If they make it fly it will be a massive achievement, greater than most people will realise.

[MB]

If fast charging points could be installed at around the 50 mile mark along these roads, most of the South of England and South Midlands becomes accessible from a lithium-ion powered Reva starting from Central London.

You'd have to be prepared to drive it on the motorway first, and wait an hour every 50 miles to recharge, so your average speed would drop to 25 mph.  Although if you were only stopping once and didn't count the time to recharge at either end, that would increase to 33 mph.

Point taken. This wouldn't be a solution for people who regularly need to make these sorts of journeys. For people who would make these sorts of journeys three or four times a year though, this would allow them to buy an electric car and use it as their only vehicle.

Having the charging network in place would give people the comfort to know it's there, even if they rarely ever used it.

[clickwhirr]

A quick google gets me a price of about 350 USD for a 3.2volt 200ah li-ion cell. 15 of these would make a 48volt 200ah pack. Now they say the range is 75 miles - about double what the PB version gets so lets say they have either got a higher voltage or higher capacity pack. I will go with the higher capacity pack - 400ah. So to get the 48 volt 400ah pack they might have used 30 3.2 volt 200ah blocks. 30*350 USD = $10500 now this is the retail price - say at least a 40% markup - down to $6300 - 1.4 USD to GPB = 4500. I Would expect them to be able to negotiate a better price for quantity - then there is the BMS and charger to take into account. I dont think the BMS would cost very much - around the same as the charger. Stick goingreens markup on it and I also think it will come out at about £6000