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Now the world is behind “Nano”. Nano technology, iPod Nano, Tata Nano… here goes the list. Now in India also its the time for nano cars. Tata launched it’s Nano car in the recent past and followed by Tara International, Kolkata based company launching its low cost cars named Tara Tiny, Tara Titu (two and four seaters respectively). This car cost Rs. 99,000 approx. Tara Shuttle and Tara Carrier are priced at Rs 500,000 (approx). |
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Tara S Ganguly, the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, had a big dream. And he set about realizing it ‘in a small way.’Having obtained a management degree from Columbia University, Ganguly’s mission has always been fighting pollution. He specialized in renewable energy. “Way back in 1994, I thought of zero-fuel car but could not launch one as the economics did not back me up then,” he said. Crude oil was $10 per barrel then. But now that it has crossed $100 per barrel,” said Ganguly. Now he rolled out his zero emission, electric cars at an affordable price for common man. According to him the Rs.6/KM can bring down to 0.40ps/KM. To accomplish his dreams he has teamed up with China’s Aucma, a leading player in the electrical vehicles and appliances segment, to manufacture these cars. Apart from West Bengal, the company’s other production centres are located in Pondicherry and Lucknow. The company is also planning to launch electric bikes priced between Rs 12,000 and Rs 35,000. The Tara series cars are available in Electric Red, Black and White and bikes in Green, Blue and Red.Cars can be recharged daily at 220 volts through 15 amp sockets, whereas the bikes can be recharged through 5 amp sockets. A daily 6-hour charge enables bikes to travel 80 to 100 km, whereas the cars (all variants) need 8 hours of charging to cover the same distance. These cars cannot run faster than 50 kms an hour. The company is training a group of units at various parts of India to assemble the car and bike parts, repair and maintain. In the intial stages there may be 50 such units across the country, out of which five are ready as of now. Tara International has also tied up with a few Indian companies to set up charging units at shopping malls across the country. The other advantage is the moving parts are fewer in number, just 35, compared to over 2,500 for gasoline-powered vehicles. Fewer parts mean less maintenance and simpler service. Also, electric cars do not need oil, filters and coolants. So Ganguli’s dream of building a ‘Green Car’ is coming true and he is extremely optimistic about the future of this car as he feels, “In this age of global warming and increased pollution, our future lies in green cars. I am extremely confident that these cars will be runaway hits in the international market.” Technical Details: |
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Mar 18
March 21st, 2008 at 11:11 am
thanks for this very informative article. i understand mr. ganguly’s company has 3 other models planned or in production. do you have additional information on these? the larger models are said to be priced at approximately Rs 500,000 ($12,500?). i would like to find out more about the larger models - when they will be available, if they will be available with left hand drive as with the tara tiny, general performance specifications, etc. also, if mr. ganguly’s company has a web site or customer contact email address, that would be very helpful.