Reva Aims to Alleviate ‘Range Anxiety’

Apparently if you won’t go to electrics, electric car companies are taking pains to come to you.

First, we had Tesla’s vice president of business development, Diarmuid O’Connell, talking about “remote techs” servicing Tesla models in areas around the country without showrooms or repair stations. Now comes word that Indian electric car company Reva will be unveiling plans for emergency remote recharging at the Frankfurt Auto Show in six days’ time.

The two models featuring the REVive refueling option — which allows Reva drivers to call or text the company for an on-site recharge — are the 4-seat, family-oriented NXR hatchback and the sporty 2-seat NXG (pictured).

Both models aim to lure drivers with “range anxiety” (i.e. the fear of running out of charge midtrip) by assuring them that a charge is always available, though details of how, exactly, the company will deliver on that promise won’t be revealed until Sept. 16.

While Reva — a joint venture between Maini Group of India and AEV LLC of California — sells or test-markets cars in more than 24 countries and claims to have the largest fleet of EVs on the road with more than 3,000 vehicles deployed, there are no specific plans (that we’ve heard) to send the cars stateside. Given the backlash against EVs in general and small cars in particular that we’ve been reading recently in our own comments sections, that may be a smart choice.

Reference http://www.msn.com

~ by Rithy Pheath on 12/31/2010.