Acknowledgement

The success of an activity requires a special effort from its team and inspiration and support
from its mentor. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our instructor and mentor
Prof. Ch.V.V.S.N.V. Prasad for supporting and guiding us in every possible way at each step
throughout this project. We would like to acknowledge Mr. Rohit Prabhudesai for their
constant reminders and much needed motivation.

1
About Electric Vehicles
What is an EV?
The electric vehicle (EV) is propelled by an electric motor, powered by rechargeable battery
packs, rather than a gasoline engine. From the outside, the vehicle does not appear to be
electric. Under the hood, the electric car has:

An electric motor

A controller

A rechargeable battery

The electric motor gets its power from a controller and the controller gets its power from a
rechargeable battery. The electric vehicle operates on an electric current principle. It uses a
battery pack to provide power for the electric motor. The motor then uses the power received
from the batteries to rotate a transmission and the transmission turns the wheels. Four main
parts make up the electric vehicle: the potentiometer, batteries, direct current (DC) controller,
and motor. See Figure below.

2
Description of Parts and their Functions
Potentiometer
It is circular in shape and it is hooked to the accelerator pedal. The potentiometer, also called
the variable resistor, provides the signal that tells the controller how much power is it supposed
to deliver.

Batteries
The batteries provide power for the controller. Three types of batteries: lead acid, lithium ion,
and nickel-metal hydride batteries.

DC Controller
The controller takes power from the batteries and delivers it to the motor. The controller reads
the setting of the accelerator pedal from the two potentiometers and regulates the power
accordingly. If the accelerator pedal is 25 percent of the way down, the controller pulses the
power so it is on 25 percent of the time and off 75 percent of the time. If the signals of both
potentiometers are not equal, the controller will not operate.

Motor
The motor receives power from the controller and turns a transmission. The transmission then
turns the wheels, causing the vehicle to run.

How does an EV operate?

When the driver steps on the pedal the potentiometer activates and provides the signal that
tells the controller how much power it is supposed to deliver. There are two potentiometers for
safety. The controller reads the setting of the accelerator pedal from the potentiometers,
regulates the power accordingly, takes the power from the batteries and delivers it to the
motor. The motor receives the power from the controller and uses this power to rotate the
transmission. The transmission then turns the wheels and causes the car to move forward or
backward. If the driver floors the accelerator pedal, the controller delivers the full battery
voltage to the motor. If the driver takes his/her foot off the accelerator, the controller delivers
zero volts to the motor. For any setting in between, the controller chops the battery voltage,
thousands of times per second to create an average voltage somewhere between 0 and full
battery pack voltage.

3
History of Electric Vehicles
If youre fairly new to electric cars, you might think their history goes back just a few years.
However, there have actually been a few eras of electric cars, dating back to the early 1800s.
Lets have a stroll through time.

In 1899 and 1900, electric vehicles outsold all other

types of cars. In fact, 28% of all 4,192 cars produced in
the US in 1900 were electric. They had key advantages
over gasoline- and steam-powered cars in 1900s. For
one, they didn't have the smell, noise, or vibration.
They were also easier to drive.

By 1920s, Henry Ford's mass production of combustion

engines made gas-powered cars significantly cheaper
than electric cars.

For example, in 1912 an electric roadster sold for

$1,750, while a gasoline car sold for $650.
CitiCars
In the 60s &70s interest in electric cars began to grow
again due to pollution concerns. Firms started looking at e-cars again.

Miniature commuter cars became popular during 1970s. One was 'CitiCars' whose top speed of
44 mph, a normal cruise speeds of 38 mph, and a range of 50 to 60 miles. Elcar, another
popular car, had a top speed of 45 mph, a range of 60 miles.

Firms began investing more in the tech. BMW debuted its first electric car in the 1972 Olympics.
Twelve lead-acid starter batteries powered the vehicle, which featured a 42-horsepower
electric motor. It could reach a top speed of 62 mph and had a range of 37 miles.

After years in development, India's first e-car 'Reva' came out in 2001.

4
Need for EVs

The twentieth century has been the era of energy from non-renewables mainly because of the
ease of use, availability and the low cost of fossil fuels. However in twenty first century as a
consequence of the negative impact of fossil fuels on the environment it is witnessing a great
change in energy generation and consumption. This change has also affected the automotive
industry. Due to this alternative fuel technologies are attracting heavy investments.

In next few decades population of the world is

expected to grow up to 11 billion and number of
vehicles to around 2.5 billion. Due to this the
demand for fossil fuels from automotive industry
is expected to be 3 times of current demand.
With the exponential increase in the number of
vehicles in the future, the gasoline requirement
from the automobile industry is expected to be
three times more. The existing reserve of gasoline
will not be enough for fulfilling the demand in future.

According to the World Energy Outlook 2015, fossil fuel based transportation is the second
largest source of CO2 emissions after power generation. Thus an increase in number of vehicles
would lead to increase in emission levels. This emphasizes the need for alternative cleaner fuels
including electric mobility, especially in India which is one of the largest automotive markets in
the world with a total of more than 141 million user vehicles registered

Also the pollutants like Sulphur and Nitrogen compounds emitted from petrol and diesel
vehicles are increasing at an uncontrollable rate. These pollutants mix with the air particles to
form extremely dangerous compounds, thus resulting in countless number of diseases.

Battery operated cars do not depend on fossil fuels and also do not cause any emissions, thus
serving as a twofold solution to the air pollution as well as the depleting sources problem.

5
Why did Gasoline vehicles prevail over EVs
historically?
To illustrate the reasons as to why gasoline powered cars eventually prevailed over electric cars
we shall take the example of the Studebaker company which was the largest manufacturer of
wagons and buggies in the late 19 century.
th

When the company began making automobiles, they chose to power their engines with
electricity, not gasoline. Eventually though, gasoline became the fuel of choice for automobile
manufacturers around the globe and the problems faced by electric cars back then are pretty
much similar to the problems of today.
John M. Studebaker did not like gasoline-powered cars, says Andy Beckman, the archivist at
the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana. He said, Gasoline-powered cars are
clumsy, dangerous, noisy brutes that stink to high heaven and break down at the worst possible
moment. When the gasoline-powered car was in its infancy, they were difficult to operate and
they smelt really bad due to their noxious emissions. Without emissions equipment, gasoline
engines give off rather noxious fumes. Even starting the gasoline-powered car could be fatal:
people were occasionally killed trying to crank start a car, which was an ordeal in itself.
Electric cars on the other hand could be started by the flick of a switch. The electric motor was
also easily available as it had already been developed by the Westinghouse Corporation.
Studebaker had already developed the framework for horse drawn carriages and it was just a
matter of time till he adopted the chassis for an electric powered vehicle.
Electric cars were also far more durable than gasoline cars, as evidenced by the fact that
modern day collectors still enjoy their durability by taking them out for a spin. Even after many
years, you can throw in a battery, pump up the tires and you're probably good to go. Gasoline
cars don't age as gracefully because of the fuel and other fluids.
From 1902 to 1911, Studebaker produced around 1800 electric vehicles of all kinds. Even
Thomas Edison was said to have owned one.
But like today, the big technological hurdle was keeping an electric car charged. Back then, a
Studebaker could go 40 miles at about 20 mph before losing power. Then you would have to
plug it in and recharge it, and the electrical structure of US was not set up to handle this.
Each car came with a 15 foot cord to charge the car and power plants would often let people
charge their cars, if they knew what to ask for. Since most of the electricity produced was in the
form of AC, all you needed was a rectifier to connect the charger to and you could charge the
car pretty easily.
Ultimately, as we all know by now, gasoline powered cars prevailed. The gasoline engine
developed by leaps and bounds technologically compared to the electric engine and the
development of a self-starter for gasoline cars proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the

6
electric car engine, as now drivers could start a gasoline powered car just as easily as they could
an electric.
Several factors contributed to the demise of the the electric automobile early in the twentieth
century.
First, there was a growing acceptance of the gas-powered car. In 1908, Henry Fords
Model T first appeared on the roads and sold over ten thousand in that model year
alone. Previously, cars had been a luxury for the wealthy, but Ford applied assembly line
production in 1913 and sold more than 308,000 Model Ts the following year. Charles
Kettering invented the electric automobile starter in 1912, which eliminated the
inconvenience, and danger, of the unwieldy hand crank starter which had been needed
gas engine cars.
Another problem for the electric vehicles relative to gas-powered cars was that
electricity wasnt as obtainable within Americas infrastructure as gasoline had become.
At the turn of the century, urban areas began using more electricity for appliances like
street lamps; however, only the wealthy were having it installed throughout their
homes. In the more rural areas, electricity was virtually non-existent, which kept drivers
of electric cars close to home. Large cities like New York created "swapping stations for
batteries, popular around 1910, to accommodate distance travel. Still, the "sphere of
usefulness" of electric vehicles was within the city, while gas vehicles could go between
cities. Gas vehicles therefore could easily infringe of the EVs sphere, but not the other
way around.

At the turn of the century, 40 percent of American automobiles were powered by steam, 38
percent by electricity, and 22 percent by gasoline. 33,842 electric cars were registered in the
United States, making America the country where electric cars had gained the most acceptance.
Sales of electric cars peaked in 1912.
Eventually, the expense of running an electric vehicle vs a gas-powered car became a decisive
blow to the EV. Henry Fords gas-powered cars had a relative low cost compared to EVs.
Recharging lead-acid batteries cost roughly 20 cents per kwh (about $2.07 today), compared
with filling up with five cents a gallon gas back then. The first filling station cropped up in St.
Louis in 1905. Standard Oil of California (now Chevron) built its first in 1907 in Seattle. By 1920,
gas stations made their way across the United States and fueling up a car became as easy as
buying a loaf of bread. Switching to the internal combustion engine was a no-brainer.

Toyota Camry hybrid v/s Mahindra Reva

7
REVA
History
Prior to getting into a joint venture, the Maini manufactured 1500 premium components and
assemblies in hydraulics, material handling, automotive and off-highway for customers in
Europe, Canada, France, Brazil and Spain. MMM, established in 1984, manufactured electric
golf carts, airport vehicles and forklift trucks. Eventually, the Maini Group earned the
recognition of manufacturing automotive components and battery operated material-handling
equipment and was the first company in India to do so. However, the first Reva car was
released in the market only in 2001.

The Reva Electric Car Company, RECC, was incorporated in 1995 as a joint venture between the
Bangalore based Maini Group and AEVT Inc. of Irwindale, California, to manufacture
environment-friendly, cost-effective electric vehicles for city mobility. The RECC has been
established with the vision of combining a tradition of excellence and leadership in
environment friendly urban transportation, offering the best value and highest quality electric
vehicles anywhere in the world. The company's flagship vehicle is the Revai electric car,
available in 26 countries with more than 4,000 of its different versions sold worldwide by mid-
March 2011.

Before launching the car, Maini group conducted a survey in 5 major cities of India and the
results were very encouraging. Most people preferred an electric car a two seater-car with
room for children. Based on consumer feedback, the first few cars were made in California and
about 250 kgs of material were taken from India. This ensured that there were Indian made
components in the car. However, later the entire production system was shifted to India and
was managed by 30 employees.

When REVA was launched the sales of Electric Vehicles were at an all-time low. So they heavily
invested in technology and innovations. RECC joined up with several automotive experts to
develop components for REVA. Curtis Instruments, Inc. of USA developed a Motor Controller
specifically for the car. The car had a high-tech power pack for which Tudor India
Limited supplied customized Prestolite batteries. The Charger for Reva was developed
by Modular Power Systems of USA (a division of TDI Power). Later, RECC started manufacturing
the charger themselves through a technical collaboration agreement between MPS and the
Maini Group.

In 2004 GoinGreen of the UK entered into an agreement with RECC to import REVA cars and
market them under the G-Wiz moniker. In 2006 Reva received an additional investment of $20
million from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Global Environment Fund (GEF). In 2008 a revamped

8
REVA model was launched called the REVAi. The company started production of a Lithium-ion
variant called the REVA L-ion in 2009. In 2009 Reva and General Motors India declared a
technical collaboration to develop affordable EV for the Indian market. On 26 May 2010, India's
largest sports utility vehicles and tractor maker Mahindra & Mahindra bought a 55.2%
controlling stake in Reva. Following the deal, the company was renamed Mahindra Reva Electric
Vehicles Private Limited. Mahindras president of automotive business, Pawans Goenka,
became the new companys chairman. As a result of the ownership change General Motors
pulled out of the tie-up with Mahindra Reva that was to produce the e-spark.

9
Porters Five Forces Analysis

Developed by Professor Michael Porter of Harvard Business School in 1980, the Five Forces
Model aims at identifying those factors which are likely to affect an organisations
competitiveness. It then helps a rm choose an appropriate strategy to enhance its competitive
opportunities and to protect itself from competitive threats. The ve forces that Porter
identies are displayed in the picture.

Bargaining Power of Buyers:

It inherently depends on the number of alternatives available at or around the same price range
to the buyer of the product. If the consumer faces a variety of choices while buying a product,
he can choose the product which gives him the best value for his money. This in turn can end
up in a price war- every firm trying to lure in buyers at the cost of their own profit margin.

At the time Reva was launched, there was no other prominent electric vehicle on the roads of
India. So one might conclude that since there was no real competition in the Electric Vehicle

10
Industry, Reva could have exploited its consumer base and have consequently made
supernormal profits. But Reva was launched at a time when the consumers of the automobile
industry were indifferent between electric vehicles and IC engine vehicles. Reva's pricing
strategy, coupled with the government's inadequate subsidy of its green technology, did not
help its cause in capturing a significant market share.

Since the buyers had alternatives to the Reva at the time of its inception, like the Tata Nano
(priced at 1 lakh), two wheelers which cost less than the Reva but could travel much further
without refuelling, and others, their bargaining power was high.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers:

Mahindra Reva has a strong base of 175 suppliers which supply to Reva for its industrial
material handling products. These products are not mutually exclusive: many companies supply
Reva with the same product. Also, since many parts of an electric vehicle are same as that of
the normal IC engine vehicle, like the body frame, the wheels, seats, windshield and other
interior parts, Reva did not suffer from a supply-side monopoly.

Since the suppliers to Reva were the same suppliers to many other automobile companies, they
could not raise its prices exorbitantly high, for fear of losing its sales to another competitor.

Further, through backward integration, Reva has mitigated the bargaining power its suppliers
exert on it. Reva is into automotive components manufacturing for many years and
manufactures products like battery chargers, body panels and even small mechanical
components for itself, thereby giving less bargaining power to its suppliers.

Threat from Substitutes:

The biggest threat for Reva is surely from the large number of fuel cars present to compete
against its electric cars. The electric cars are lagging behind its fuel counterparts in many
important areas like power, driving range (maximum distance that can be travelled in a single
go), payload (seating capacity), top speed etc. which puts continuous pressure on Reva to
innovate and compete with the substitutes.

Moreover, eating into the market share of fuel cars is proving to be difficult due to other varied
reasons like lack of awareness among people, seeing car as a status symbol etc.

Reva with its unpopular design coupled with its low range, battery life, and accommodation

11
capacity, could not handle the competition posed by its competitors-Maruti 800, Tata Nano,
Maruti Alto 800, and two wheelers too.

Threat from New Entrants:

Electric Vehicle manufacturing is by no means a cheap process. Since it is still in a rudimentary
phase of development, current methods and processes are highly cost-ineffective. Additionally,
there is no guarantee of satisfactory returns on the project. Since most automobile companies
are still focussing on IC engine cars and its improvement, very few companies dare to take the
risk of delving into the EV industry. This high cost and extremely speculative returns prove to be
a high barrier to entry for new firms.

If, say, a firm does go ahead with the idea of manufacturing an electric vehicle and invests
money in its research and development, it would feel reluctant to withdraw from the project in
case of a failure. Thus the very reasons for the industrys high barrier to entry also result in its
high barrier to exit.

This unpredictability in the business implies that the threat from new possible entrants is low.

Existing Rivalry in the Industry:

In the electric automobile industry, there were no significant firms who had established
themselves as pioneers in the field. This had provided Reva with the whole market to itself.
There were no competitors at the time which were looking forward to developing EVs
themselves. This meant that the rivalry in the EV industry was low.

Although the competition in the EV industry was minimal, Reva couldnt compete with the
companies in the rest of the automobile industry. Reva was priced in the same bracket as other
IC engine cars which provided much more utility to the user. Reva with its previously
mentioned limitations simply was no match for cars like the Alto 800, Maruti 800, Tata Nano,
and even many of the two-wheelers. The rivalry in the automobile industry as a whole was
much higher than in the EV industry.

12
Status at the time of launch

As you can see that the majority of the Indian passengers still were in the economy segment of
the Indian Passenger Car Industry. So Reva entered into the market and thought that it would
make the most of opportunity as majority of the population were still using the car segment in
which it was entering. The car was very competitively priced at 0.2 million and was in
immediate competition with others cars like Maruti 800.

13
The above graph suggests that the population is expected to increase from 6 billion to 10
billion in 2050, thus the demand for the vehicles for transportation will also increase and is
expected to be around 2.5 billion in 2050.The IC engine car were suspected to be an unreliable
transportation as the existing fuel reserves were not enough to extinguish the growing demand
and as more and more people were becoming aware of the ill-effects and the consequences of
the degrading environment, people would try to shift to eco-friendly measures to prevent
further degradation. Thus REVA was thought to be a suitable substitute to cater to the growing
market for vehicles because of its eco-friendly nature and electric powered engine and thus
Reva could take advantage of the situation and try to capture a large market share in the
market.

14
Growth and Current Status
NXR and NXG were launched at the Frankfurt motor show in 2009, after the launch of Revai in
2008. In a short period of 2 years, over 3500 cars were sold across the globe. Reva lacked the
financial support to bring out the technical expertise in their products. In 2010, Mahindra and
Mahindra acquired 55.2% of Reva with the promoters holding 31% in Mahindra Electric
Vehicles Private Limited. When Mahindra acquired Reva, Reva got access to over 100 countries
across the globe. Mahindra was present in over 18 industries like distribution, logistics, etc.
Moreover a new plant with annual production capacity of over 30,000 vehicles was setup in
Bengaluru. The company also developed a plant dedicated for assembly of the battery.

Reva is currently being sold primarily in Bangalore, the city where it is manufactured. It has
sales points in other major cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Delhi, Pune, Kolkata,
Goa and Agra. It is also sold in 9 other countries which include United Kingdom, Italy, Malta,
Cyprus, Norway, Spain Ireland, Japan, Sri Lanka, and being test marketed in Australia,
Switzerland, Germany, and Austria, Nepal. The company currently uses direct word of mouth
publicity to gain customer base. It doesnt advertise on TV or other media. The sources of
information for the customer Most of the sales come from referrals from previous customers.
For most of the customers this is the second car and 50 per cent of the customers are women.
The car is being predominantly sold in Bangalore.

Global Market
In 2002, GoinGreen agreed to import Reva and sell it in UK under the name of G-Wiz. However
in order to make it susceptible to local conditions in UK, 134 changes were made in Reva. Reva
was successful in UK and was received greatly by the people. Reva was also exempted from
various taxes like congestion charge, etc.

However in 2007, G-Wiz failed one of the safety tests of the government of UK. The news
spread like wildfire and the sales of G-Wiz declined. However the company relaunched the Reva
next year with a more powerful AC-drive train and other safety features and the sales jumped
not only in UK but throughout the Europe. Reva was now being exported to countries like
Spain, Japan, Cyprus, Portugal and Iceland.

15
4Ps Marketing Mix

Product
The REVAi, known as G-Wiz in the United Kingdom, is a small micro electric car, made by the
Indian manufacturer REVA Electric Car Company. The REVAi is a small 3-door hatchback
measuring 2.6 m (8 ft 6 in) long, 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in) wide and 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) high. The car can
accommodate two adults in the front and two children in the rear. The back seats can fold
down to provide cargo space. The maximum passenger and cargo weight is 270 kg (600 lb). It
has an AC drive system which provides a maximum speed of 80 km/h (50 mph).
The REVAi is intended for city trips and commuting, particularly in congested traffic. It has a
small size and elegant design, it is easy to maneuver. After initial safety concerns for the earlier
model of REVA, REVAi had several new safety features such as front disc brakes, a collapsible
steering column, and a much revised and reinforced chassis which made it a safe and stable car
to drive. Since REVA is battery powered (Lithium ion or lead-acid depending on the model),
maintenance cost is significantly less as compared to regular cars. The REVA L-ion model gives a
90% charge in one hour.
The major distinguishing feature of REVA is that since it is an electric car, there is no problem of
harmful emissions as in the case of fuel powered cars. Thus there is a considerable
environmental benefit gained from using this car.

16
Place
REVAi is currently available for sale in 9 cities in India. REVA also has a good presence abroad. It
is available for sale in Bhutan, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Malta, Monaco, Nepal, Norfolk Islands, Norway, Peru,
the Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Sri Lanka and the UK besides India.
The different versions of the REVA sold about 4,600 vehicles worldwide by late 2013. Indian
market accounted for 55% of the total sales of REVA, of which 40% are concentrated in the
Bangalore region, where Mahindra REVA is based. UK is one of the leading markets for REVA.
The REVA G-Wiz, as it was called there, was one of the top selling electric car in Britain for
several years, particularly in London. Sales were also recorded in Spain, Norway, Costa Rica,
Republic of Ireland and Chile.

Pricing
Pricing in the UK started at approximately GB9,995 for the standard model The G-Wiz qualifies
for exemption from the London congestion charge due to being an electrically propelled
vehicle. The REVA was also sold in other European countries, including Spain and Norway.
In Costa Rica, the REVAi was launched in March 2009 and is sold for US$13,000. In
the Chilean market was sold for US$12,000.
The REVAi was available in the Republic of Ireland at a retail price of 11,500 for the REVA
Standard and 17,500 for the better specified REVA Li-Ion.
REVA was sold for 350,000 (US$7,130) in India and has a "running cost of just 40 paise/km"
(40 paise [0.08 US cent]/km), considering the Indian petrol price of US$1/liter.

Promotion
Reva was positioned as a Green, low operating cost car. The marketing strategy when Reva
was first launched mainly concentrated on the car being green and the first of its type in the
electric car segment. With a small size, easy to drive (no clutch or gear) and slow speed,
Reva was targeted at small families, old couples and female drivers.

With reference to the Indian market, REVA was competing directly with established brands like
Maruti 800, Zen, Alto, etc. Since it was in the price range, people preferred to buy the
established brands, since they had better features in terms of space, appearance, speed range.
REVA was did not appear aesthetically pleasing to the target market, its low maintenance cost
and environment friendliness weren't big enough selling points.
In the future, REVA can be marketed through social media campaigns. Focus should be on
stylishness and easy to drive nature of the car, rather than benefit to the environment. For
youth appeal, advertising campaign should focus on driving comfort and independence gained
by 'buying first car'.

17
S.W.O.T Analysis
The SWOT analysis is an extremely useful tool for understanding and decision-making for all
sorts of situations in business and organizations. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. One conducts SWOT analysis for business planning,
strategic planning, competitor evaluation, marketing, business and product development and
research reports. A SWOT analysis is a subjective assessment of data which is organized by the
format into a logical order that helps understanding & presenting the process of decision
making.

Strengths

No Competition in the EV Segment.

Environment friendly.
Economic to Drive (0.4 paise/KM).
Government subsidies (8% excise duty).
Successful in Export Markets (no 1 in UK).
Easy to Drive (gearless).
Easy to park (small size).
Mahindra is an established brand in Indian market as well as European Markets and
enjoys a good brand equity.
Very Good market presence across all the sectors.
Highly efficient supply chain.

Weaknesses

Competition from gasoline vehicles

Small size - In india people relate the car size to Status/Power.
High Price
Low consumer awareness
Low penetration in domestic market
Low aesthetic appeal
Low top speed (65 KM/hr)
Small driving range (upto 80 KM)
Safety concerns

18
 Huge capital investments
Low market presence of Reva.
Lack of dealers in India.
Ill promoted product.
Cannot run beyond 45KMPH and cannot go beyond 80 KM in one charge.
Requires 8 hours to get completely charged.
Cannot accommodate more than 2 adults and two children at a time.
Li ion Battery is very expensive.

Opportunities
Huge untapped EV market
Growing demand of green technologies
Rising fuel costs
Growing road congestion in urban cities
First mover advantage.
Market of EV is expected to grow @ 20-25% as predicted by industry experts.
Govt. gives subsidy @ 75000/- on EV and hybrid vehicles.
A lot of export potential. Export Market is expected to be 1.5-2 million by 2020 and
Indian market to be 80000.
An established player in European market across 24 countries.
Currently having the biggest fleet on road (3500 vehicles).
Fuel prices have grown from 8.50 to 67.00 since 1989 to 2011 and are expected to grow
only.

Threats

Entry of competitors
Stringent safety requirements anticipated
Availability of hybrid vehicles
Mitsubishi, Maruti, Tesla and Hero electric also planning to enter the EV markets.
Stiff competition from cheap conventional fuel cars.

19
Strategies adopted by REVA

Maini Materials Movement (MMM) stepped in and helped Reva to manufacture battery
chargers for them. This was an important step for Reva as it helped Reva cut down a lot of
production costs. Other core technology of Reva Energy Management System (EMS) was
acquired from Amerigon. A new company called Maini Plastics and composites was formed to
put up machines and infrastructures to build body panels of Reva.

Reva was launched at a very critical time in market. At this time the market for EV was on a low.
Initially the government was also in support of the concept car Reva. Chetan was also confident
that reva would be a huge success as the emerging middle class was seeking an economical
mode of transport. Besides this they made sure that materials required while manufacturing
were transported from India to ensure supplier connectivity and it also proved to be time
efficient during the testing process.

After failing the safety test in London, they relaunched Reva i which had a more heavy and
powerful AC driven train along with some additional safety features. This lead to increase in
sales of in Europe. The company exported Reva i to Spain, japan, Cyprus, Portugal, Iceland and
Norway.

After the government introduced the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and
Electrical Vehicles (FAME) scheme, a new plant was set up by reva to increase the productions.
The plant had an annual capacity of 30,000 vehicles. It was set up in Bengaluru. It was
considered to be the largest operational example of a plant specifically dedicated to the battery
electrical vehicles. New features of telematics and mobility solutions were also added, these
features were added in alliances with a telecom major Vodafone.

Marketing Strategies

Marketing strategy in its most basic form is a plan to sell products or services in a way that
delivers long-term profitable growth. It is a brands road map; it tells the brand where to go and
the best route to get there. Great brands use strategy to deliver products and services that will
have meaningful impact. Every brand decision stems from the marketing strategy, and is
articulated at every touchpoint.
A good marketing strategy helps to:
Streamlines Product Development
Helps Determine Optimal Prices
Establishes Effective Distribution
Assists with Marketing Communications

20
Marketing strategies adopted by REVA

Segmentation Scheme
The current segmentation scheme for Reva is based on utility, gender and income preference.
The target segment includes working women, college going students, small families with one or
no children and families that are looking to substitute a 2-wheeler with a car for the purpose of
a second vehicle. Highly environment friendly people also prefer Reva for city use. The
geographic distribution is restricted to 6 states and overseas operations in 10 countries.

Distribution strategy
The REVA electric car company, from the Maini group had appointed 90 dealers country wide,
40 of whom are around Bangalore.

Promotion Strategy
The car was put on display at 'Cu-lah 2000', the youth intercollegiate cultural festival held at
Mount Carmel College Bangalore.
In a tie-in contest, couples were asked to strike an unusual pose in or around the car. And no,
the winner was not awarded a car but a 1,000-rupee Shoppers' Stop gift voucher and a few tee-
shirts.
A preview of the car was organized at 'Smiles 2000', an exhibition on renewable energy

21
Challenges faced by REVA
Size of the car
When the RECC launched the company the concept of nuclear families was very popular.
Nuclear families were the main target( DINK, DISK ). The design of the car can accommodate 2
adults and 2 children and nothing more than that. 2 adults and 2 children is most accepted
structure of a nuclear family throughout the world. It was also appealing to housewives for
daily errands and also the retired people who couldnt travel much but wanted comfort for
short travels. But the times are changing and car pooling is the new trend but because of the
size of the car this is not possible. Reva should try to increase the size of the vehicle such that it
will accommodate 4 adults. The additional advantage that the size of the car was small which
reduced the parking space required.

Price of the car

When Reva was launched, India wasnt much developed. Reva which runs entirely on electricity
was introduced in 2001. During that time, there was a shortage of electricity and there were
several power cuts. Also, the prices of petrol were significantly less. So, people preferred fuel
powered cars over Reva cars. Their marketing strategy might as well have failed due to lack of
awareness among the general population about environmental problems. The manufacturers
of Reva E2O now promise a cost of electricity of approximately 0.5Re/per km. If the standard
cost of electricity and petrol is assumed and that an average man drives about 10,000 km in a
year, the cost of charging amounts up to 5000 Rs per year whereas the cost of fuel amounts up
to 70,000 per year. This saves the customer 60,000 Rs every year. Although in the overall
equation this does not fit well because the price of Reva is approx. 6 lacs whereas that of the
popular and cheap models of the cars are around 3 lac Rs.

Speed range
There were also other restrictions like speed of the car. The cars with IC engines which were if
the same price as that of Reva offered speeds close to 120-130 kmph whereas Reva offered 60-
70 kmph. It was an age of technological revolution and no one liked to be left behind not even
on the road.

Battery Restrictions and Infrastructure required to sustain these cars

Reva cars can go 60-80 km if charged once considering negligible waiting time in the traffic.
Thus these cars cant be used to go for drives longer than the specified limit. Also there are no
places where these cars can be charged like fuel stations. The infrastructure required to sustain
a system consisting majorly of Reva cars is not feasible considering the current financial
condition of the country.

22
Reliability and Performance
People were seeing this kind of car for very first time in that case it was very difficult for them
to trust on such product.

Competition
The biggest competition of Reva in that time was Maruti-800, Maruti Alto etc. These cars were
far ahead of Reva in various comparisons like mileage, cost effectiveness, seating capacity etc.

23
Recommendations

Introduce an advertisement campaign

Increase the size of the car so as to accommodate 4 adults
Make Reva a hybrid car viz. it should run on electricity and fuel whenever
on of them is short in supply
Increase the speed range so as to compete with other cars of the same
price range which give about 120-130 kmph
Increase the size which increases the safety standards of the car thereby
classifying it under one of the standard car sizes
Decrease the price of the car by compromising on the interiors without
compromising on the safety.
Collaboration with big names like Tesla, because they have the technology
and Reva has the knowledge of Indian market and the manpower to sell the
technology
The government can invest in creating a charging infrastructure by
strategically placing charging points at various locations in different cities.

24
References
i. www.revaindia.com
ii. www.dnaindia.com
iii. www.business.outlookindia.com
iv. www.auto.indiamart.com
v. http://www.businessworld.in/index.php/Can-Reva-Go-the-Extra-Mile.html
vi. http://www.businessworld.in/index.php/Automobiles/Reva-Takes-Charge/Page-2.html
vii. http://www.indiastat.com

25