today we can get up slightly later, since we – in theory – have a drive-free day.
our first good news item for today: the red think car has finally cought up to us and can be shown at the press conference organized on the grounds of the IITB!
it was a hero’s welcome for team interlaken! everyone on the team was happy to see them again!
after the press conference, and thanks to paul schweizer, who is one of the engineers working for mahindra reva, we get to visit the brand new reva factory which will be producing up to 30000 thousand electric cars a year in a very near future.
this visit was not on the schedule and we do it mostly out of personal curiosity. as a special treat to the senior staff at reva, we let them drive with us from IITB to the factory 30kms from IITB – across the city.
we get to interact with the staff which were gathered around our cars and then during a presentation where we spoke “to the converted”
then the CEO himself took us to the board room, assembled the entire senior manager level there and started to have a lively discussion with us about where reva is planning to go and what our experiece with electric cars was.
i especially loved the fact that the new cars’ first charge was pure solar (parking lot is covered in solar cells) and was very impressed by the fact that the production plant was planned entirely along the lines of efficiency and sustainability.
we got a tour of the production floor, got to see the new reva model. i got to chat extensively with the person responsible for infrastructure – very interesting stuff they’ve got lined up. even more so i was impressed by the challenges they face which are non-issues in europe > reliable electricity supply for starters 🙂
after a very nice visit, we headed back to bangalore to have dinner with the swiss consul general.
the team met up at a glitzy shopping mall which defied the surrounding poverty. india is indeed a country of stark contrast!
well fed we thanked the consul for the invitation and headed back to IITB.
