Pinoy Yuppie Life: Electric Car for me?

Pinoy Yuppies rejoice!!! The electric car is near! EVnnovations a subsidiary of Ramcar Group of Companies will be the official local distributor of REVAi, an electric car from REVA Electric Car Company from India, in the Philippines.

REVAi is a fully-automatic, two-door hatchback car touted to have a range of 80 km per charge. The car is small at only 2.6m in length, 1.3m in width and 1.5m in height. For the average Pinoy Yuppie, this is more than enough for a single day of driving to work. My home to office distance is only 50km back and forth. According to its e-brochure, 1 km will only cost 40 centavos! wow! My fuel-efficient Pinoy Yuppie car goes around Php 3.8/km. Now that's savings! Here's the best part -- since it's an electric car, it's 100% emission free. Very good alternative option for Pinoy Yuppie environmentalists.

Apart from the usual cost savings and environment-friendliness, the car also have standard safety features like its steel space frame with side impact beams, front wheel disk brakes, energy absorbing bumpers, child seat belt, rear defogger and dent-proof ABS body panels. It has large doors for easy entry and exit, high seats for superior visibility and its rear foldable seats provides more luggage room much like the Pinoy Yuppie Husband's car.

The main system -- heart of the electric car is its maintenance-free AC motor, capable of quick acceleration of 0-40km/hr in 7 secs and has a reported top speed of 80km/hr. It has hill restraint feature, good when your stuck in traffic up a flyover, its unique boost mode give 40% more power, the energy management system is upgradable as well and it has electronic regenerative brakes.

The more trendy Pinoy Yuppies can choose from an array of options like CD MP3 player, climate controlled seats, leather seats and leather-wrapped steering wheels, central locking system, special scratch resistant panels and air conditioner & heater with remote pre-heat/pre-cool capabilities.

Charge time is around 8hrs for 100% capacity, but if you're on the go and can't wait too long, it can be charged to 80% capacity in 2.5hrs. Published seating capacity is 2 adults and 2 children, for the average Pinoy Yuppie family this is enough although you can't carry too many baggage.

The integrated power system specification are as follows - Motor is a high torque (52Nm), AC induction motor, 3 phase 13kW peak; Controller is a 350 Amp microprocessor-based with regenerative braking; Charger is a 220V, 2.2kW, high frequency switch mode type; EMS is a microprocessor-based battery management system; Power comes from 48V, 200 Amps-hr, EV lead acid batteries (6pcs).

Early reports from Manila Times quotes the price tag to be PhP900,000! Yikes. Ouch! Definitely not for the common Pinoy Yuppie. The steep initial price is due to the high acquisition cost which includes excise tax and importation duties. EVnnovations are initially targetting the A and B economic markets. But if the reported cost per Km is true, for my daily trip alone I will be able to save a whopping PhP3,500 per month!

But the average Pinoy Yuppies still hope that this car can be sold at near manageable levels. Getting tax-free incentives and subsidies from the government can definitely drive the selling price down. This will jumpstart our government's drive for a greener environment. It will help lessen our dependence on petroleum-based fuels and can also save our environment by lessening carbon emissions. Prices in India is around PhP300,000 for the base model. If this will be sold here at PhP 350k to PhP 400k, Pinoy Yuppies can definitely consider this for a first car.

There's no definite date yet on when the REVAi will be launched in the Philippines but I think the Pinoy Yuppies are already waiting for it.

Visit http://www.revaindia.com/ for more cool photos and facts about the REVAi.

Abangan ang susunod the kabanata... (Let's wait for the next news installments...)