Energy and the Environment winner 2011

Chetan Maini’s interest in electric cars can be traced back to his childhood, when he cobbled together model vehicles. Drawn by its electronics program, Maini chose to attend the University of Michigan in the United States. While a student there, he worked on the General Motors Sun Race in 1990. The solar-powered car his team built won the contest and served to stoke Maini’s deep interest in alternative-fuel vehicles. He thought electric cars, in particular, held great potential.

In 1994, Maini co-founded the Reva Electric Car Company (RECC) in Bangalore, the first to build electric cars in India. The inaugural model, the REVA, was introduced in 2001. Three years later, the REVA arrived in the United Kingdom, under the brand G-Wiz.  RECC introduced its second model, the REVAi, in 2008. In 2009, RECC introduced a lithium-ion battery, which improves the REVAi’s range to up to 75 miles.

Today Maini serves as chief strategy and technology officer of Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles, formed in May 2011 after the Mahindra Group of India acquired a majority share in the company from the Maini Group, a major industrial parts manufacturer founded by Maini’s father.

Mahindra Reva vehicles are the best-selling and most affordable EVs in production. REVAs are very small (just 8.6 feet long, 4.3 feet wide and 4.1 feet high) but colorful − consumers can order custom paint jobs. Around 4,000 of the cars have been sold in more than 20 countries, although most sales have been in Bangalore and London (where drivers can avoid paying congestion fees due to the electric drive train).

Mahindra Reva is building a new plant in Bangalore with a capacity of 30,000 vehicles per year. Showing its dedication to sustainability, the building will harvest rainwater, use natural light and ventilation, and harness solar energy for electricity and heating.

Mahindra Reva’s next models, the NXR and NXG electric cars, due out in 2012 and 2013 respectively, promise a range of 160 km and can be fully re-charged in 90 minutes. They also will feature a new innovation called REVive. That will address range anxiety by enabling remote activation of reserve charge – a driver could call Reva customer service when out of battery power and it would activate a small backup charge for the battery.