Reva: green and clean

1

I think that the REVA has a long way to go before satisfying it credentials as a people friendly vehicle. The notion of crash testing comes with our perception of safety and is one of the concepts that separates us from third world countries: who will ultimately become first world countries. The safety concerns of the REVA should not be dismissed lightly. As soon as some one sits in a car - whatever it is renamed - the probability exists that the occupants of the vehicle will be involved in some sort of collision with either another vehicle or a stationary object. Hence, as it has been clearly demonstrated that the designers' of this vehicle are not concerned with the occupants, someone has to stand up for consumers that could be beguiled by the REVA eco-marketing. There has also been, I am led to believe, a lot of complaints about reliability and maintenance on these REVA's in UK and Europe. In the search for an eco-friendly solution to the use of fossil fuel to propel our vehicles, we must not substitute irrational behavior for the rational process that has been developed over many years to safeguard consumers and other unwary people from the product defects, allowed by some unscrupulous manufacturers, that can cause serious injury. Its a bit like in the old days when some people went to work knowing that they could die because of poor safety standards. Some of you might like to remember or google Ralph Nader and the USA automobile safety record. See what you think then!

2

If these properly manufactured electric cars can't be approved for safety reasons then why do we allow electric bicycles or cycleists generally on the road? surely they are at greater risk.

3

I wonder what the crash test looks like on a toyota starlet ? or the other micro cars. The footage isn't much good without a comparison.

4

It's not whether I'd buy a REVA after knowning about the crash test, I still would though, but it's because of the cost savings which pollies don't want us to have. Also why did the Australian Government purchase a REVA in the UK and then undertake the crash test, not vehicle manufacturer, I am lead to believe the manufacturers REVA VEHICLE was not ready to undergo the test. BUT IT"S ABOUT "SHOULD I FEEL SAFE DRIVING A REVA" and the answer must be obvious - it's far safer than a motorbike or scooter and if classified appropriately under the quadracycle category, it would be safer than any other quadracycle. What I can't understand though, is why didn't the STATE & FEDERAL GOVERNMENTS encourage the manufacturer to assemble the REVA VEHICLE here (creating AUSTRALIAN JOBS) and even put to tender (says 20 - 25%) of the vehicle parts to AUSTRALIAN COMPANIES

5

Hallo, I almost forgot one of my main arguments: Why on earth we burn the coal,oil and gas within a few generations. Americans were the main culprits with the high consumption. Double per person then any other nation. What gives them the right. That is why the Americans will go down. The Irak war was there last move. In Germany they are building 0-Energy houses, without any heating of fuels. In Australia they still have single glasses everywhere. The 0-Energy house has 4 layers of glass. All this whinging about the petrol prices is the biggest joke ever. Buy smaller cars folks. The petrol prices should go higher to preserve it. Increased the taxes an nay kind of energy and with the money coming in we built solar panels and electric cars. Then we use less petrol and keep the jobs here. Them them burn in there own sun in the middleeast. Now they are building palaces and keep them cool like ice boxes form your taxes. We must become independent from that oil!!!! Let the Mullahs go back on there camels and not driving around in Mercedes and sitting in golden ice boxes in middle eastern hotels. How stupid are we. Taxes up on petrol!!! Subisdise and built solar panels , electric cars. Reduce the price on bananas. 6 $ a kilo and nobody says a word about it in the media. Always Fuelwatch. Because the politicians think that is an easy way to get elected! Complain about the oil companies and everybody listens. And you pays for the exhaust gases ruining the earth climate. Have Banana watch and Beer Watch instead -that is healthier. Any politician reading this!!!!!

6

To Prasad comments: You want to wait till the Indians or Chinese have complied with the crash test. Yes of course Australia let other people do the hard yards and the just import the stuff like everything else. Just shovel the coal and uranium on the conveyor belts and let the dirty stuff being processed somewhere else. Why should Australia gather knowledge. One of Chinese richest man started of in Australia and they bascially did not want the solar panels to be produced in Australia. Now they are produced in masses by Chinese. Australia could perhaps learn something and do something with the resources for a change other then shovel them on the conveyor belt. The Aborignens are right to refuse too much mining. Why should we sell everything here within a few generations, if it took the earth billions of years to make it. How shortsided!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wake up everybody. Stop shoveling coal and built electric cars. We have to convince everybody that this is the way to go. Built solar panels as well. We need the media to speek out and the poltician to free the way. The first motor cars were not very safe either. To start of with they could just be allowed to drive within the city like in London. Wake up everybody before the antarktis is melted within 20 years. And what do they show on TV: Bush enjoying the themselves in Australia: Sunny and dry. And nobody speaks about the real problems. More solar panels/ wind energy, clean up the power plants and electric cars. The technology is there and it will be done. But Australia will import everything in exchange of unranium. Use your brains Australia. We are better then that. Everbody check out the websites: www.evworld.com oder google. the internet has all the information you need. Spread the word and talk and blog as much as you can. The politicians will have to follow, when everybody knows about this. Check out the Tesla founder: That are the people we have to listen too. Bush und Howard are living in denial and are scared to see the facts just to hold on power. Unfortuanatly Rudd and the Unions with the Coalworker are not much better. Every second worker in the coal industry should get a job in the electri car industry or building solar panels. That is the way to go. Not to protect old industry -look for new ones with the right way to preserve our world and not to burn it within 4 generations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anybody has connections to the media: Please publish more about this. Wake up!! Hartmut

7

First off, I am very keen for electric cars to succeed. But they have to succeed on a level playing field. If petrol cars have to pass a crash test, then electric cars have to pass exactly the same test before we should allow them on the roads. It's very expensive to design a new car and make it safe by modern standards. That's why it's easier to go the Tesla route and modify an existing car...the Lotus Elise. The TH!NK project cost Ford hundreds of millions before they dumped it and a lot of that money was spent making sure the car was safe by modern standards. Luckily the TH!NK is coming back in Norway and the UK quite soon and will probably destroy the market for Reva. Australia should wait for better, safer electric cars. It won't be that long. Mitsubishi hope to have the all-electric MiEV on the road pretty soon and I'd feel much safer in that than in a G-Wiz. The motorcycle argument is spurious. You might as well say that we should allow Mattel and the Chinese to sell lead painted toys with loose magnets because a child could find some lead paint somewhere else or pick up a screw from the floor and swallow it. That isn't a serious argument.

8

I don't care about the crash test. I would buy this car no matter what.

9

I read this article because I want to keep my 1968 kombi but commute in something that's more environmentally friendly. Hence i just stuck "electric car" into Google News and ended up here. Compared to a motorbike -- the other option to an electric car which i'm exploring -- this car looks very safe. Roads are dangerous places and that crash video instills no new fear in me. The comment that this car pollutes more than a small petrol engine is just wrong. The coal -fired emissions to power it are smaller and also we can locate power stations away from population centres. Has it occurred to "karl" that the emissions from a petrol car will kill him if he runs one in a sealed garage? If the government was responsible they'd subsidise us to drive these cars and to cover our roofs with solar cells, instead of making it difficult. I just got hold of a copy of "Who killed the electric car" and plan to watch it tonight!

10

Isn't it astounding how skewed our thinking is given the current low cost fossil fuel context we're in and the consumption habits (& marketing campaigns) that have emerged. We want to find reasons for this to fail, not reasons for it to succeed! Astounding!!!! Karl : Switch to 100% Greenpower, e.g. Origin's offering. Use less power to save the difference in price between your current coal provided power & your new greenpower solution. Plus, eliminate all those other carcinogens generated by burning petrol. Sands : This car is bound to be safer than a motorcycle (let it on the road by making passengers wear helmets for goodness sake)! It's certainly more dangerous to drive given the other vehicles on the road and the perverse incentive we have to carry around additional vehicle weight thanks to low cost fossil fuels and lack of efficient battery storage to compete (coming!). Why are we looking for reasons for this to fail?????? I can't drive a golf cart to and from shops > 3 km away because it's more important to us as a society that my neigbour be able to invest in and drive a BMW X5...