Tata Motors has confirmed that the rumors of an all-electric Tata Ace and the all-electric Tata Indica are true. In an unveiling in India this past week, the company took the wraps off of two lithium-ion battery-powered EV prototypes based on the Ace work truck and the Indica sedan (pictured). As we heard earlier this year, the Indica EV will first be sold in the Norweigian market next year because the Scandinavian country "has the necessary infrastructure in place to run electric cars which India lacks," as Tata Motors President Ravi Kant put it. Indians will get their own chance to buy the car in about 24 months. According to the Business-Standard, the all-electric Indica has two battery packs which can charge in eight hour and go around 110-120 miles on a charge.

Now, about an electric Nano...

[Source: Business-Standard]

Tata Motors announced last week, curiously, they would be building an electric car by the end of the fiscal year in Norway. One of the first questions that sprang to mind was answered today by news that the vehicle in question will be based on the "tried and tested" Indica (pictured above) and not the Nano which we suspect will also be eventually electrified. The program appears to be well underway since unnamed industry sources are claiming that Tata is, "... currently working on five prototypes of electric vehicles on the Indica platform." It isn't clear if they have 5 different configurations of the car or merely 5 "validation prototypes" under construction. They are also said to be depending on lithium ion batteries to give the city car a 200 Km (125 mile) range.

The other question that the annoucement begs is, "Why Norway?". Well, why not Norway? Already home to two electric car makers, Th!nk and Kewet, the Scandinavian country has most of its citizens and therefore, transportation needs, within a few cities. The climate provides an excellent testing environment as well. The location of electric plugs close to parking spots may even be a factor. What's important for non-Norwegians is that Ratan Tata has said that once the car has been deployed in Norway, "...then it will be available to employ in other markets". Who knows, maybe even America.

[Source: Hindustan Times]

click above for more images of the Tata Nano

Those in emerging markets hoping to get their hands on the cheapest car in the world may soon have a few more option boxes to consider checking. Chairman Ratan Tata has said in the past that an electric-only version of the Tata Nano is likely, and now industry sources are saying that a diesel engine is also in the works. Displacing 800cc and including common-rail injection from Bosch and a Honeywell turbocharger, the diesel engine has been designed by German powertrain specialist FEV, the same firm that India's Mahindra reportedly contacted for help with its latest diesel hybrid engine.

We don't yet know what kind of fuel mileage the diesel would offer, but the twin cylinder gas engine standard in the Nano is good for 54 U.S. miles per gallon and the diesel should better that figure somewhat, though most likely for a slight increase in price.


[Source: The Economic Times]

Tata Motors is finding it increasingly difficult to meet its own self-imposed price target of $2,500 for its minimalist Nano. The latest issue is rising costs of raw materials, particularly steel. Steel prices have increased by half over the last 12 months, and other commodities are on the rise as well. At least part of that is due to rising energy costs, both for manufacturing the components as well as transporting them. The high cost of oil also feeds into more expensive plastics. Tata has built in a sliding cost scale for many of its components that is tied to production volumes. As the number of Nanos built goes up, the parts cost goes down. Indian suppliers typically set a fixed cost for parts for a period of time. Its not known how much of the increased materials cost Tata will be able to absorb in order to meet the price target.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.]

Way back in January, rumors began swirling regarding a potential tie-up between Chrysler's GEM and India's Tata Motors. The rumored love-child was an electric version of the delivery truck known in India as the Tata Ace. Now, we have a potential price for the unit, and it sounds almost too good to be true. According to Auto Observer, the electric Ace could sell for as little as $5,000 and would meet all necessary safety regulations in the United States. We'd imagine that this vehicle would be classified as a NEV, which would limit it to twenty-five miles per hour and operation on streets with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour or less.

No details are available regarding what kind of batteries or range are available. We can see a small delivery vehicle which uses no gasoline going over rather well in dense urban areas. Sales possibilities exist in both the U.S. market as well as in India.

[Source: Auto Observer]

Click on the photo to watch the BBC video of the Nano engineers

When you set out to produce a car at one-third the cost of anything else on the market, a lot things invariably need to be left behind. Creating a car like the Tata Nano requires taking a complete top down look at every system in the car. Every component needs to be analyzed to make sure it's really needed. For example, instead of the usual four or five lugs, the wheels of the Nano use only three. Given the low power and light weight, this is sufficient. Not only does it reduce the part count, it also reduces the time required to assemble the car. Other examples of parts reduction and simplification appear in the door handle mechanism which now has half the number of parts. Of course all this simplification runs the risk of reducing reliability and durability. Only time will tell if the Tata engineers have gone too far. For more, watch as the BBC takes a look at how Tata created the Nano.

[Source: BBC, thanks to Misha for the tip!]

In what might be the most perfectest (work with me here) odd couple match-up since chocolate and peanut butter, Pininfarina, car designer extraordinaire and builder of the hydrogen fuel cell-powered Sintesi concept car (silver automotive objet d'art pictured above), with minority participation from Tata Motors, maker of the ultra-cheap Nano (red contraption also pictured above) plan to open a research, design and engineering center in India later this year.

Just as it's no secret that the Italian design house has been making deals of late in an effort to shore up its finances, it's equally as obvious that Tata Motors, a company which began its life in 1945 making train locomotives, could use a hand in the aesthetics department. Not only could future iterations of the Nano benefit from the deal (Lambo doors anyone?) but seeing as how Tata is in the process of buying upscale British brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, such a deal may be necessary for its future success.

We here at AutoblogGreen cannot help but wonder if Pininfarina might be able to use the relationship to take advantage of Tata's forté of low-cost manufacturing vis-a-vis its electric car program with battery supplier, Bolloré. If you prefer to eschew speculation, hit the jump for "just the facts" as contained in the press release from Pininfarina.

The Tata Nano made headlines as the world's least expensive new car and it's now facing a new challenger that's battery powered. The Ajanta Group is better known for making clocks but they also build electric scooters and bikes. The Gujarat-based Ajanta wants to get into the car business with an electric vehicle that's cheaper than the Nano. Ajanta group director Jaysukh Patel seems to think they can just transfer their electric bike technology to a car and produce 70 percent of the parts in-house, saving money. That seems a little unrealistic - even in India - unless what they are planning is closer to a neighborhood electric vehicle than a real car. For a price under $2,500 the car will almost certainly be relegated to lead acid batteries and very short range. It will be interesting to see how Ajanta's new EV compares to the Reva G-Wiz which is also built in India.

Gallery: Tata Nano: The People's Car

[Source: Times of India]

We told you recently about a car looking very much like last year's Chevy Beat concept being spotted testing in China. We still don't know if that car was actually a GM prototype or copy from one of the countless Chinese automakers who have no qualms about using the design departments of other, more established automakers to produce their wares. However, earlier this week Automotive news reported that GM is actively working through their Chinese operations to develop a much lower cost car for developing markets. While the Tata Nano is obviously a stimulus to develop a cheap entry level product, GM is apparently unlikely to go quite as cheap as Tata's $2,500 entry price. The current Chevy Spark (the "design" inspiration for the Chery QQ) sells for $5,650 in China right now and engineers at SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co. have been tasked with cutting the production cost of the next generation model by half. That car, built on the same Global minicar platform, as the Beat is expected to debut in late 2009.

[Source: Automotive News - Sub. req'd]

The topic of cheap cars has come up on our pages before, and John McElroy has shared his thoughts on the topic over at Autoblog. It looks like John will be contributing over at our sister site on a somewhat regular basis, this is his first posting. McElroy is the host of Autoline Detroit which you may have seen on Speed TV or public television (make sure to watch it tomorrow). On the topic of inexpensive cars, John brings up the Dacia Logan, which is now part of Renault's stable. This car is just about the cheapest set of (four) wheels you can get in Europe, and McElroy highlights the fact that the car is selling rather well. This is causing the other manufacturers to look into offering similar vehicles in their own lineups.

The next point brought up is the possibility of even cheaper cars from companies like Tata from India. As McElroy points out, this type of vehicle is unlikely in the U.S. due to the fact that the emissions equipment alone on cars sold here might cost as much as the vehicles themselves in other area. Additionally, safety standards would likely impede inexpensive cars from making inroads on American roads.

Although the idea of an inexpensive new car that even low-income households could afford is certainly one with merit, if the vehicle is not capable of being safe and clean, it probably should not be sold. The argument could be made though that if the new car, even if not up to snuff with other new cars were cleaner than a five-year-old used car it could still be an eco-benefit. Sounds like a very fine line that would need to be walked, but if companies like Continental or Borg-Warner help with cheaper emissions and safety equipment, who knows what may come of it.

[Source: John McElroy / Autoblog]

GM knows it's smart to get into the Indian car market. Ford is there, too, although perhaps they need to work on the marketing angle a bit. There are also plenty of domestic automakers like Tata Motors, which is about to launch its low-cost car. As BusinessWeek reports, the Indian small car floodgates are about to open.

We've written before how an huge increase in the number of vehicles sold in India might be a terrible thing for the environment there (alternately, it might not be that bad). As BusinessWeek puts it, when Tata Motors' $2,200 car launches (probably) in January, it'll face a lot of competition in the sub-$3,000 small car market. Here's how BW describes the coming show-down:

This very-small-car segment is shaping up as a major Indian battleground, thanks to the growth in the Indian middle class and its disposable income. Companies are counting on the small-car projects to push aspirations further. ... Leading the race are ambitious multinationals that lost prior opportunities to be in India and are now anxious to catch up.

As ABG reader Manu reminded us in July, the Indian government has adopted Euro emissions standards, so these new vehicles should be relatively decent on the emissions charts. Still, adding such a huge number of vehicles to a country cannot happen without some consequences.

[Source: Nandini Lakshman / BusinessWeek]

We have shown you the air-car before, and you may have seen it on TV if you watched the Discovery Channel series, Future Car. If you did, you witnessed them erroneously refer to the possibility of perpetual motion in reference to the air-car. While there is no perpetual motion at work here, there may be production plans in the works. An agreement between Tata Motors and MDI, creators and patent-holders for the air-car and it's powertrain may just bring the air-car to market.

Details of the air-car peg the top-speed at 68 mph, and a range of 200-300 kilometers (up to 186 miles). The tanks containing the compressed air can be refilled at special stations, or using the on-board electric compressor in 3-4 hours. The vehicle is expected to see use primarily in urban environments. Will it ever hit U.S. shores? We'll see, right?

[Source: Business Week via Hugg]

Tata Motors (you can stop snickering anytime now) of India wants to build more environmentally friendly vehicles than they do now. Since they have limited development resources and knowledge as only the third largest car-maker in India, they are talking to manufacturers hybrid and fuel cell power-train components about getting some of that technology.

In Geneva for the Motor Show, Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata said that his company is talking to companies such as Ballard Power Systems, a maker of fuel cells, and various car-makers about getting some hybrid components to use. Tata acknowledges that his company will probably never be a major brand in Europe, but they would like to grow to a stable sustainable level. Although Tata wants to grow the business, he wants to do it organically rather than through acquisitions.

Related:

• India's Tata Motors and France's MDI sign agreement to build compressed air-powered cars
• Tata Considering Entry into China

[Source: Automotive News - Subscription required]

India's largest automaker, Tata Motors, announced this week it will partner up with MDI of France, a technology invention company, to develop engines powered by compressed air. Tata says the agreement "envisages Tata's supporting further development and refinement of the technology, and its application and licensing for India." MDI is the company behind The Air Car.

The way the Air Car's CAT (compressed air technology) works is that an "innovative system" - MDI isn't releasing true technical details because of corporate secrecy - controls the movement of four two-stage pistons (giving eight compression/expansion chambers) and a single crankshaft. A 5kW electric moto-alternator compresses air, recharges the battery, serves as an electric moderator/brake and as a temporary power supply (e.g. for parking).

That sounds positive, but reader Fabio Alemagna says the key problem for MDI's technology is the fundamental problem that the "fuel" conducts freeze thanks to the subzero temperature of the compressed air.

Tata is also working on engines powered by Hithane, a mix of hydrogen and compressed natural gas. For its part, MDI is not limiting itself to India or Tata. MDI president Guy Negre said his company was happy to work with Tata but, "We are continuing the development with our own business concept of licensing car manufacturers in other parts of the world where the production is located close to the markets."

Related:

• India mixing hydrogen and compressed natural gas
• Tata Considering Entry into China
• Old video of air-powered car making the rounds at YouTube

[Source: Tata Motors, h/t to Fabio Alemagna]