This morning we visited the manufacturing facility of Mahindra Reva, the first and only electric car manufacturer in India.
Reva was founded in 1994 with a "big, hairy, audacious goal" of being the world's favorite electric car company. The company was acquired by the MNC Mahindra Group in 2010.
During the presentation by Reva's head of exports, we learned about the company's aspirations for the coming decades.
Despite the initial intimidation of the ritzy board room, our discussion was relaxed and candid. Reva's representative spoke proudly about the early success of their e2o (energy to oxygen) model and seemed confident in his predictions that electric vehicles would capture an ever-greater segment of the automobile market.
Although the numbers he quoted didn't seem to match with his percentages, he claimed that the electric car's 0.1 percent market share would reach 30 percent by the year 2050.
Our class asked probing questions after he boasted about the facility's LEED Platinum rating. We realized that much of the environmental impact of the company was outsourced to its suppliers, who provide more than 1,000 of the 1,250 parts that go into the vehicles.
After our discussion, we toured the assembly line and were shown the solar charging and car2home technologies.
We left feeling optimistic (though with healthy skepticism) in the future success of Reva and its products.
