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PluginIndia Electric Vehicles

Visiting Mahindra Reva's green factory

26/5/2014

24 Comments

 
By Kamlesh Mallick
We at PluginIndia, have been planning this for a while. When, I got an opportunity to visit the platinum rated green factory of Mahindra Reva, I did not hesitate. After all, this manufacturing facility will make every Indian proud - for the outstanding contribution to preserving the environment, for making India's most innovative car and to show our country that vehicles powered by clean energy are the future.
After taking over Reva electric car company, The Mahindra group invested around 100 crore and built a factory in 2012, with the aim of manufacturing 30,000 electric cars every year. This environmentally friendly plant scored 82 points in the review conducted by Indian Green Building Council and thus 
the 'platinum' rating.

Here are some cool energy saving features used at the plant
  • Solar energy caters to 35% of energy consumption
  • Solar powered charging stations 
  • Drip irrigation system for the gardens
  • 100% treatment and reuse of gray waste and onsite rain harvesting 
  • Improved fresh air and ventilation systems
  • Skylights that reduce electricity consumption
  • LED lighting all over the factory

Here are some photos of the plant as i entered the premises
Picture
Entrance of the plant. A Reva electric car getting charged using free energy of the Sun
Picture
View of the factory from the first floor

Manufacturing electric cars
The only car manufactured in this plant is the Mahindra e2o. The first thing I noticed, when i entered the plant was the organization of factory space. The floor space was divided into multiple sections, with each stage progressively completing a part of the manufacturing process.  
I was accompanied by Mr Suresh Kuttan, National Sales manager at Mahindra Reva along with an engineer at the plant who summarized the steps taken in each section
  • In the first stage of manufacturing the e2o, the power-train, motor and suspension are fitted in the chassis.
  • In the next stage, the steering racks and break systems of the vehicle are fitted
  • In the next stage, a unique number is provided for the vehicle. After this the AC is fitted in the system.  Next the control boards are fit in. This contains the energy management system and other systems which are pre-assembled.
  • Next, the roof gets bonded to the vehicle
  • The battery pack is then fitted into the car.  The battery pack is sub assembled from another section  known as the battery testing area.
  • The battery pack is then covered using a battery box.  The inlet and outlet air cooled system is then fitted on the battery. The pack is designed to use the cabin air and cool itself.  If the AC is on, it uses cool air from the compressor to cool itself. 
The power-train, motor and suspension are fitted in the chassis
The control boards are fit in
The roof gets bonded to the vehicle
The second line
  • In the next stage they bond the vehicle with pre-colored panels.  They use an adhesive to hold the vehicle and the panel.
  • Next the rear bumper, roof liner, seat belts are fitted in.
  • The glass is then bonded in the front and rear.
  • Miscellaneous items like front, rear speakers, seats, doors are fit in. Other parts like the fender, brake oil filling, charging sockets, wiper systems and steering system are too fitted at this stage.
  • After this process there is a final quality check. The wheels are assembled, the vehicle is ready to roll out for the first time, for real testing.
  • At the end of the line, there are lots of tests performed. These include wheel alignment, shower testing and road tests.
  • The vehicles in the solar park are then delivered to customers
Picture
Final tests complete, e2o ready for delivery
Picture
The finished car gets its first charge from the Sun!!! How cool is that?
A different manufacturing philosphy
What i found is that the Mahindra Reva factory is more of an assembly plant, they follow a design philosophy where lot of the components are manufactured by suppliers and the plant itself is a just in time assembly process. 
This reduces the amount of land space. Given in that land space, it is capable of producing 30,000 electric vehicles per year, which is very effective use of space. This brings down the cost of investment, and the processes are very simple.

Also they are eliminating two or three very high capital intensive costs. For example - they don't have sheet metal construction, so no need to have a sheet metal stamping. They have pre-impregnated panels for color so they don't need a paint shop. They don't do much welding process, which is done at the supplier’s end. This brings down the net investment.

To give you a sense, following standard manufacturing process of a regular car, would be 10 to 20x capital intensive than what they have spent here. This is important as EV volumes are going to be relatively lower so you need a low cost manufacturing approach to become profitable

Visiting the Mahindra Reva corporate office
After visiting the plant, i visited the Mahindra Reva corporate office and took lots of photos.
Here goes!
Picture
Electrics - All of them!
Picture
This classic Reva car drove from Paris to Prague in the World Advanced Vehicle Expedition (WAVE) covering 2,900 kilometers across eight countries in two weeks!
Picture
The CHAdeMo based DC quick charge stations that will be rolled out in Indian highways soon
Picture
Employees charging the electrics
Picture
The 'Platinum' rated green factory
Picture
Future of mobility running on clean electrons? Its the present!!
Final Words
So, are you a proud Indian now?


Further Reading
Read more about the Mahindra e2o
Read an ownership blog on the Mahindra e2o

24 Comments
Roland Steinmetz link
26/5/2014 05:05:35 pm

Hi, interesting to read. So Mahindra has chosen the ChadeMo standard for fast charging?

Reply
Kamlesh
27/5/2014 03:42:38 am

Hi Roland,

From the conversations i had with people, yes we will have the CHAdeMo standard for DC quick charging.

Keep reading!

Reply
Mahesh
28/5/2014 04:21:44 pm

Hello Kamalesh

Greeting from my end. Me and my wife are big fans of EV. We have a reva-i and are now planning for E2O.
Can we be in touch.

Mahesh

Reply
Kamlesh
29/5/2014 03:41:56 am

Hi,
I sent you an email.
Keep reading!

Thanks,
Kamelsh

Reply
Ranjan Ray
29/5/2014 07:27:04 am

Hi Kamlesh,

I am so jealous now :) Great work with this article.

regards
Ranjan

Reply
Kamlesh
29/5/2014 07:59:15 am

Hey Ranjan,

hehe! Glad u liked the tour, as much as i did!

Keep reading!
Kamlesh

Reply
Nanda
30/5/2014 06:49:31 pm

Good article. Keep up the good work.

Reply
Kamlesh
31/5/2014 04:07:39 am

Thanks for nice words

Reply
Ramesh Krishnan
31/5/2014 03:49:06 am

The plant looks very neat, tidy and bright I wonder if the people noticed the kind of energy saving lights that were used in the plant. They have also used sunlight very well (eg: look at the "This classic Reva car drove from Paris to Prague" Photo).

Reply
Sunil Paulose
31/5/2014 03:54:13 am

Good to know that the CHAdeMo based DC quick charge stations will arrive soon!

Keep us informed

Reply
Kamlesh
31/5/2014 04:08:15 am

You will hear it first from us!!!

Reply
Nanda
31/5/2014 11:59:56 pm

Next time you meet E2o executives, please ask them why they are not selling Mahindra E2o in TamilNadu which is neighbouring state with good amount of gdp and automobile manufacturing units .

Reply
Kamlesh
1/6/2014 01:27:46 am

Hi Nanda,
I did speak to Sales manager at Reva about this. They are not selling in many states, due to TAX reasons.
Some of the states including ur state, tax a lot (they did go in specific). Apparently they are working with the Govt.

Lets see. I'm sure, its just a matter of time, before they launch everywhere.

Reply
Nanda
1/6/2014 03:44:27 am

Thank u Kamlesh for the update. It is sad to see that such a nice car has to face all these tax hurdles(I forgot that TN is a freebie state). Here in US I own a Toyota Prius plug-in and US govt encouraged me by giving $2500 tax rebate. Indian govt should remove all the import tax on batteries since they are the costliest part. Money lost in import tax can be recovered by the foreign exchange saved by this car.

Kamlesh
1/6/2014 04:13:56 am

True. That kind of wisdom has fallen upon deaf ears in the Govt. The world over has subsidies and help for the EV industry but not us.

I just hope Mr Modi sees the wisdom in this.

Ami
4/6/2014 04:21:15 am

Wow ! Really great article :)

Reply
Kamlesh
4/6/2014 04:54:53 am

We are glad u liked it :)

Reply
Geeta Karanjkar
12/6/2014 08:17:22 am

Dear Kamlesh,

I with my colleagues would like to visit this plant. It is very impressive.

Whom we shall be contacting for same ?

Thanks

Reply
Kamlesh
6/1/2015 02:47:00 am

Hi,

You can get in touch with Mahindra Reva on their FB page.
Good luck!

Kamlesh

Reply
goldy
5/1/2015 06:49:53 pm

i want to be a part of this plant after completion of my PG. please!!!!

Reply
Kamlesh
6/1/2015 02:47:53 am

The sky is the limit my friend! :)

Do try. Good luck!

Reply
Ajith
3/3/2017 10:34:33 pm

Greetings,
I want to take my Class for this facility for an industrial visit. Whom am i Supposed to contact for Permission. Can you get me the Details.

Reply
MANJUL
14/5/2019 02:24:42 pm

There should be an article about the key people of early team of Reva.

Reply
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