India based Tata Technologies unveiled a electric car prototype at the 2012 Detroit Motor Show. The electric car designed by the company can carry upto 4 passengers and is providing some serious competition to some of its expensive rivals at the show. Codenamed eMO, the project according to Mr. Warren Harris, President of Tata Technologies is a step ahead in the field of automotive engineering. It also is a significant step taken by them to display the company’s capability to completely design and develop a fully fledged car; a feat that has been a first from any India based engineering services based company. The objective also was to demonstrate the possibility of developing a cost-effective electric car which comes at an attractive price of $ 20,000 (Rs. 10 lakhs).
Mr. Kevin Fisher, Head of group’s vehicle development team told that the company first set the target cost for this vehicle at $ 20,000 and then used a multi-dimensional approach to develop the vehicle using the company’s ‘intimate understanding’ of frugal engineering principles. The development of this involved more than 300 engineers at Tata Technologies’ 4 engineering centres in Novi Pune, Detroit, Michigan and Stuttgart. The end result of this is a small, urban 4 seater vehicle that has a unique operating software and with a weight of just 900 kgs. Mr. Fisher went on to add that the next decade will be witnessing an ever increasing demand for more efficient and accelerated product development that also will need to incorporate more new technology than the auto industry has seen in 30 years. The eMO also meets the current crash regulations.
