EV Works, Inc. and The REVA EV

Interview Conducted November 18 or 19, 2003

Posted: June 22, 2004.

Chetan Maini: REVA Managing Director

Diego Miralles: REVA Manufacturing

Catherine Cavella: EV Works Regulatory Affairs

Interviewer: Josh Landess, Evworld.com Representative

EVWorld: We were discussing the lack of a US certification for a City Car Class being an impediment to getting that type of vehicle here. They do have it in Europe and Japan you say?

Catherine: That’s correct.

EVWorld: And if they had it here that would make it easier to bring it here?

Catherine: Absolutely.

EVWorld: This car is certified, it’s been side-impact tested to US standards?

Chetan: Yes.

EVWorld: What else was there?

Chetan: Meets the European regulations, which is called [(inaudible) Classification of City Cars].

EVWorld: Okay.

Chetan: That was a significant higher level of test than an NEV but probably a few less tests than a standard car. The idea was that it be used for city, and therefore their level of refinement or safety and speeds are between NEV and a regular [full-blown M1] category car. Therefore, it allows companies to get into these areas, to use them for cities, and where you’re not really going at sixty, seventy miles an hour and that…

EVWorld: So there is no such classification in existence here in the States?

Catherine: Not in the U.S. In the U.S. you have NEV class which is a top speed of twenty-five miles per hour, and then you have everything else.... full-speed vehicles where you have to meet the same specifications as a big Cadillac or something with a capability [of going 70].

EVWorld: This sounds like an important point.

Catherine: Very.

EVWorld: I don’t know. I'm a little chagrined I didn't know this.

Diego: The Feds have a Low Speed standard, “LSV” [Low Speed Vehicle], and they have a high speed standard. And the Europeans have created a Mid-Speed, or a city class. We need a Mid-Speed [Standard] here.

Catherine: I’ve spoken with a lot of people here [at EVS20], there’s a lot of interest in creating this intermediate classification because it would mean that we have a lot more things like this on the road.

EVWorld: I’m just going to make a note you’re Catherine Cavella.

Catherine: Yes I’m the regulatory/legal person for EV Works, so I’ve been looking into this area.

EVWorld: What is the relation with CALSTART? Is it the same company?

Catherine: We're [EV Works] is a participant in CALSTART.

EVWorld: There are so many names and so many companies in California.

Catherine: CALSTART is I guess a consortium. There are several companies that participate in CALSTART which basically means we pay them some money and we work together on projects.

Diego: Better technologies, other people’s technologies, and efforts together.

Catherine: Right, and that way we have the benefit of relationships that CALSTART has developed.

Diego: Like: they have a Mobility Center Program they’ve been cultivating in California, and we’d like to see our vehicles implemented into that, the way actually Ford has in the past. They’re looking at putting ours into those centers and also in Station Car programs. We’re hoping to see these fill up very small parking spaces, where we’re having trouble putting our cars near stations for light rail.

EVWorld: Well, since some of the other manufacturers don’t seem to want to be in that particular business, it would be nice to see yours in that business.

Catherine: That’s right.

Diego: We would agree.

EVWorld: I think, for example, in New York City, it would be fantastic.

Chetan: It's a great City Car.

Catherine: Absolutely.

EVWorld: I can tell you as a person who does a lot highway driving I absolutely don’t want to see it [the REVA] anywhere near a highway.

Diego: We don't either.

Catherine: We don’t either. It’s not designed for...., we don’t see it as something you would do. It’s a City Car.

Chetan: You know, there’s a need for a forty-five mile an hour City Car, maybe a fifty mile an hour City Car.

Catherine: Right.

Chetan: It really is used for city centers, 40-50 miles range.

EVWorld: It would help with pollution for one thing.

Catherine: Yeah.

Chetan: .... Decent Parking. ... It would make a lot of sense in a lot of areas, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, .... Downtown city areas.

Catherine: One other thing that I should mention that about the low-speed classification. I don’t know if you know this, but an NEV is legal on roads only thirty-five miles per hour or less, and the reason that we need the Intermediate classification is so that anyone driving a car like this could drive on any street in the city, not necessarily on the highway. We would say: It’d be fine if these cars were certified for use on any city street but not freeways. That’s fine, because we don’t need it to be freeway.

EVWorld: Well let’s see: highways would be between fifty-five and seventy generally. City streets would be…

Catherine: Well I mean there are a lot of city streets that are fifty mile an hour limit. Like Laguna Beach, Ventura County, you have PCH connecting parts of the city. Or forty-five. Right.

Diego: We would just like to see people not driving twenty-five, where there are golf cart types, on a forty-five mile an hour street and try to do that. It’s just too big of difference.

Catherine: It’s also not legal.

Diego: Even Forty-five mile an hour streets where people drive fifty. It’s too big of a difference.

EVWorld: Indeed they do. And you know my with the NEVs I think they should be able to drive a little faster and go on a thirty-five mile per hour street.

Diego: It would be safest.

EVWorld: It’s not healthy to have the differential in speeds. Even forty-five mile per hour vehicle top speed which I assume you have to work a little to get to a top speed.... Well on a fifty mile per hour street even just having that differential where people are gonna do fifty-five or sixty even though they shouldn't. But it’s [The REVA at 45 mph] close enough.

Diego: Exactly. Percentages worked out better there. Whereas if you have these people driving fifty on a thirty-five and you’re going twenty-five, that’s a hundred percent difference. If you’re talking about people going fifty on a forty-five or something like that. Or sixty on a fifty and you can go fifty, that’s only a twenty- percent difference.

EVWorld: Right.

Catherine: Yeah I would definitely like to see a push for that intermediate classification. I actually personally think that it would make city streets safer, because if we had that classification we would have a lot more of these kinds of cars on the road and that’s gonna be a lot safer. I would much rather walk around the city or drive around the city with more of these on the road and fewer big SUVs.

[discussion of City Cars in other parts of the World]

Catherine: [....]

There is actually something you might be interested along these lines. In Canada apparently they have the same regulatory framework as the US, they have the low speed and the high speed, but the difference is the Provinces apparently control…

Diego: ... What that speed is....

Catherine: ... And which cars are allowed on the roads. And the Provinces in Canada do not currently allow low-speed vehicles, NEVs, on the roads. So, they are doing a program to study how to incorporate low-speed vehicles into city streets safely. And so one of the things they’re talking about is actually changing infrastructure, having low-speed vehicle lanes possibly, so where you have only NEVs over here and you have full-speed vehicles here. They’re studying all these kinds of things.

[...]

EVWorld: .... You're saying there's no classification in Canada?

Catherine: In Canada, apparently they have the same regulatory framework at the federal level as we have because they purposely they tried to keep it the same as the US because they want to facilitate the sale of automobiles across the border. So what they have is a low-speed classification for twenty-five miles per hour just like we have. And they have full-speed, but no intermediate.

But the difference is: Whereas here, under the low-speed classification, you can register that car and get an operating permit and drive it on any streets under thirty-five miles an hour. There -- apparently the Provinces control the licensing of vehicles and they won’t actually license a low-speed vehicle. So if they have this classification at the federal level, but they can’t actually drive the cars. They don’t drive them.

Diego: They sell their cars over here.

Catherine: Apparently they’re not able to drive them. You might want to look into this. I’m getting this from some gentlemen that I talked to today. So I’m getting this second hand, but I understand that that’s the reason that they’re doing this project: to look into how to incorporate low-speed vehicles in city driving in a safe way so that they can then convince the Provinces to license them so they can be driven.

EVWorld: Sounds like a pertinent issue.

Catherine: Yeah, it’s a really interesting program, which we may be participating in.

Summary of further Conversation with Diego and Chetan:

1. EV Works shooting for bringing the REVA to California sometime in Early 2004, in NEV (under 25 mph) status. To get it qualified at higher speed status (45 mph is the top speed in other countries, with 45 mile range), with crash tests, airbags, etc., that would be late 2004 at earliest. The NEV Reva would be both software and gear limited.

2. Uses an American controller. Manufacturer is a U.S.-India Joint Venture company.

3. REVA created in California about 9 years ago. Designed in Monrovia, CA at company called Amerigon. Taken to India for Engineering and Manufacturing.

4. Some discussion of why California has been a hotbed for development of this type of vehicle, regulations in the U.S. which hamper introducing mid-speed City vehicles here because of no legal qualifications for mid-speed vehicles here (only Low-Speed and High-Speed qualifications).

5. Around 600 (of the non-limited 45 mph version) are on the road in India, test marketed for a year and a half in one city first. The program is going well. Just starting to sell in UK and other markets in Europe.

Further notes:

6. Base model coming into U.S. At $10,000.00. Options Leather Seats, A/C.

7. Compartment can be pre-cooled or pre-heated before you leave in the morning... (using plugged-in power, not using battery power).