Under $10K EV from India - Mahindra Reva E20

[GRA]

Our family once owned a ~1955 VW Microbus which had a "reserve tank" lever which would give you an additional ~1 additional gallon of gas. This came in handy more than a few times when the engine started sputtering as the carburetor began to run low on gas.

(snip)

Whether or not this car actually has such a feature similar to the old VW bus/beetle, does anyone or especially those who has run out of power (or close to it) think something like it could be useful in a Leaf?

I would like that feature if it hit turtle mode.. they could move it us an drive me about 5-10 miles.. then that would be awesome.

You already have that feature in the Leaf. It's called "Low Battery Warning" and "Very Low Battery Warning."

The reason the oldest rear-engined VW's, and many (especially older) motorcycles, had reserve levers is because they lacked fuel gauges. Modern cars have fuel gauges and now warning lights/sounds to let you know you're running low on fuel.

I don't know about the E20, but accounts I've read of the G-Wiz in London say it had a reserve that you called the company to unlock, if you ran out. Essentially they prohibited automatic access to the reserve, equivalent to the area below LBW or maybe VLBW in a LEAF, to protect the battery, but if you got stranded you called them and they unlocked the reserve for you. I don't know if they charged you extra for this or not - if it were my company leasing the batteries, I'd maybe give one or a limited number free, and then charge you for each subsequent time.

 

[maini]

2 door 4 seater car with 80KMph top speed and 120Km range.

Didn't look at all the specs - what is the capacity of the battery ? Is it Li or the old lead acid ?

I found out from the company that the India Spec car has a battery capacity of 10.5 KwHr
and the European spec car will be 15 KWhr.

 

[maini]

I have seen one in the streets of Chennai, India. I spoke to the owner who was enthusiastic that it saved him on gas. It sure looked like an overgrown toy and can't believe it can maintain anything more than 50 kph. The owner said he has touched 60 kph a few times.

The tech spec says, "Battery: 48V maintenance-free Lithium-ion" - Whatever this means ?

"4 hours to full charge; 1 hr for 25 km range from a standard 220V 15 A socket" - this would imply 15*220*4, or around 11kwh of capacity with a 90% charging efficiency and a tapering at the end.

My father had a lead-acid battery scooter that lost most of its capacity in two years. All of these will suffer rapid capacity loss in the incessant tropical heat.

I found out from the company that the India Spec car has a battery capacity of 10.5 KwHr
and the European spec car will be 15 KWhr.