India Zips Ahead in Race for Global Electric Car Market

Oct. 30 – Reva, the Indian electric-car maker based in Bangalore, plans to work with U.S. firm Bannon Automotive to manufacture a three-door hatchback near Syracuse, New York.

The plans are still pending final approval from Reva’s board. Electric cars in the United States haven’t fully taken off and there are only a couple of electric car plants that exist.

Reva’s move comes as Warren Buffett invested in China’s BYD last year although occasional 2point6billion feature Anil Gupta has warned against putting too much faith in BYD’s early-mover advantage, on the grounds “that a car is more than a stack of batteries.”

In his BusinessWeek column he says: “BYD’s ambitions to beat Toyota and become the world’s largest car company by 2025 appear to rest on the core premise that leadership in battery technology will automatically or easily translate into leadership in the car business. ”

He continues, “If so, this is a very precarious assumption. In fact, we deem it all too likely that Warren Buffet, who has made a big investment in BYD, may actually be betting on BYD’s future as a leading battery supplier than as a leading car company.”

BYD began as a battery maker and drew media attention when they began building cars. India’s Reva however has always been in the automobile business and has specialized in both auto manufacture and battery technology.

In other electric car developments, Tesla is still looking for an assembly plant for its Model S, and looks more geared to selling batteries to electric car manufacturers than getting further into that market, even though its sports car looks to be a sexy beast. Fisker Automotive, another California start-up, is soon to announce plans for a United States based hybrid production plant, according to Dow Jones. The company recently received loans of US$529 million from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Global Electric Motorcars, a Chrysler subsidiary, also makes electric cars in Fargo. Back to India, and the Tata Nano is set to become a hybrid for sale to markets in Europe. But for now, the name to watch appears to be Reva.

Also of note is the emergence of global electric car brands such as these, which may soon challenge the now largely Chinese-owned established brands like Rover, Hummer, and maybe even Volvo. Has China bought into a technology that is largely outdated and highly polluting?

to assemble a three-door plug-in hatchback, the NXR, at a site in the Syracuse area, according to the official,