As India’s first electric car turns 25, founder Chetan Maini reflects on Reva’s legacy and hints he would “never say no” to another EV venture. The little car that quietly rolled onto Indian roads in 2001 still stands as a remarkable milestone in the country’s automotive history. Priced at a modest Rs 2.5 lakh, the Reva was conceived not as a high-performance machine but as a simple, practical city EV designed for the realities of dense urban life. At a time when the very idea of an electric passenger car seemed distant and almost fantastical to most Indians, this compact two-seater with space for two children in the back proved that battery-powered mobility could work on Indian streets.
Chetan Maini, the man behind the project, had returned from studying and working with solar and electric vehicle technology in the United States, including leading a university solar car team and contributing to advanced EV powertrain projects. Drawing on that experience and the manufacturing expertise of his family’s Maini Group, he set out to create an affordable electric car suited to India. The result was a lightweight vehicle built around a steel space frame clad in durable plastic body panels, powered by lead-acid batteries that could be charged from an ordinary household socket. Its top speed hovered around 65 km/h and its range was about 80 kilometres under ideal conditions, numbers that sound modest today but were enabling at the turn of the millennium. For short daily commutes, the Reva delivered silent, zero-emission travel at a running cost that felt almost negligible.
The car found a small but dedicated following in cities like Bangalore and later expanded its reach, even finding buyers overseas. It remained in production and on sale through the better part of a decade until around 2011. By then the landscape was beginning to shift. In 2010 Mahindra & Mahindra acquired a controlling stake in the Reva Electric Car Company, recognising both the technology and the hard-won real-world experience the team had accumulated. The company was rebranded Mahindra Reva, and in the years that followed the platform evolved into the more refined e2o, launched in 2013 as a four-seater electric hatch aimed at a broader urban audience. That model carried forward the original spirit of accessible electric mobility while incorporating newer battery technology and improved refinement.
A quarter of a century after the Reva first appeared, India’s electric vehicle market looks dramatically different. Modern EVs offer greater range, higher speeds, sophisticated software and a rapidly expanding charging network. Yet the humble Reva retains a special place as the vehicle that first demonstrated the possibility of electric passenger transport in India. Many of those early cars are still on the road, cherished by owners who recognised their quiet practicality long before the current wave of adoption.
Chetan Maini himself has moved on to focus on the broader energy ecosystem through Sun Mobility, working on battery-swapping and infrastructure solutions that support electric vehicles across categories. Looking back on the Reva’s journey, he has spoken with evident pride about the pioneering effort and the lessons learned in building an EV industry from almost nothing. When the conversation turns to the possibility of returning to vehicle development, his response is characteristically open-minded. He has indicated that he would never say no to another EV venture if the right opportunity and timing aligned. In an era when electric mobility has finally gained mainstream momentum, that quiet hint from the man who started it all carries a certain resonance. The car that lit the spark twenty-five years ago may no longer be in production, but the curiosity and conviction that created it clearly endure.