Oreva Super electric car to be cheapest small car in India

Oreva Super, India’s smallest electric car in the pipeline, is poised to give serious competition to the Tata Nano. Oreva Super e-car, that is manufactured by electric bike maker Ajanta Group, will be priced between Rs 85,000 – Rs 1 lakh making it the cheapest small car in India.

Oreva Super small electric car

An Oreva Super demo-model is already on display at a Rajkot showroom. The demo car was manufactured at the company’s Samakhiyali unit in Kutch district.

Rajkot dealer Yogesh Tank, Oreva Automobiles, Rajkot, has said, “This is the first model out on display. I can’t share any more details about it as we have been asked to be tight-lipped for sometime. It is just a fabulous car and very economic in these days of rocketing fuel prices.”

He was also quoted as saying “Our e-car is in direct competition with Tata’s Nano, but nothing is final on its launch. We might launch it before Nano or maybe later. People were amazed to see the e-car when it was put on display at the company’s showroom. People came to inquire about the car and also about the booking, but we had to tell them that nothing has been finalised.”

The Oreva Super is likely to be launched in Jan – Feb 2009, neck-to-neck with the Tata Nano launch.

Although the company has not revealed the price or any other details, the Oreva Super is expected to be priced competitively; the non-AC version is likely to be priced at Rs 85,000. The AC variant will be priced over Rs 1 lakh.

The Oreva Super electric car is likely to have an NiMH or lithium battery, rather than lead-acid. The other electric car in India, the Bangalore-based Reva was launched in India in 2001. The car is priced at Rs 400,000, four times the projected cost of the Oreva Super electric car.

Flybo electric car

EV world has said that the Oreva Super is remarkably similar to China’s Flybo, and it is very likely that Ajanta has borrowed heavily from Jinan Flybo Motor in terms of technology and design.

The Ajanta group, that also manufactures clocks and household gadgets, started the research and development of the Oreva Super e-car in 2007. The Oreva Super four-seater electric car is still in the prototype stage. So far, it does not have an air-conditioner by Yogesh Tank has been quoted as saying that the final Oreva Super will have an AC by the time it is launched. The company has yet to start production of the Oreva Super in its Morbi plant, where the Ajanta e-bikes are manufactured.

The Economic times has quoted Rakesh Nathwani, National Marketing Head of Oreva Group as saying that the Oreva Super would be able to run up to 200-250 kilometers in one time charge. “We don’t have any competition with ‘Nano’. This is our future product as we have seen electric bikes as out future products. We see electric cars also as future products for India and we are working on it. The research and development is going on. This car will go on battery and it will be a completely Indian made battery operated car,” Nathwani said.

Our yesterday’s story on the Oreva electric car

Those who had a sneak peak at the Oreva Super, in Rajkot, showed interest in buying the car. Considering that the Tatas have yet to come out of the blues, given the latest problem with the Tata Nano production starting in Gujarat as well, the Oreva Super e-car just might steal Tata Nano’s thunder.

On October 12, 2008, the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) has demanded that the Gujarat government compensate the farmers for the 1,100 acre land of Anand Agricultural University (AAU) near Sanand that has been given to Tata Motors for its Nano project.