Page 78 - Motoring World (January 2020)

a lithium-iron-phosphate battery
instead of the stock lead-acid
battery that needed to be topped
up every week or so. Now my Reva
is a much peppier drive.’ And an
LiFePO4 battery is safer as well as
longer lasting than a Li-ion one.
Dr Bhatti followed this up with a
lot more of electric speak, most
of which reminded me of why I
hated chemistry lectures in college,
but it did leave me with a distinct
impression that Dr Bhatti is far more
invested in his electric car
than most people are in their IC-
engined vehicles.
After ten years of driving one,
would he recommend an electric
car to someone today? ‘Probably
not right away but in a few years,’
he said, ‘People need a barebones
electric car first because they will
want to figure out how it works for
themselves. And we need off-the-
shelf parts for electric cars. I’d love
to get a lithium-titanate battery
for my Reva. Also, compared to my
Tata Zest, I’d pick the Reva any day.
Electric is the way forward.’ That’s
pretty conclusive for a person who
says he’s not really passionate about
his car.

That knob! Just... that knob! Just can’t... that knob!

Soon, we’ll all be looking for sockets, not pumps Well, at least electrics match the under-bonnet mess of ICEs As Insta says, ‘Basic.’

78 MOTORING WORLD | JANUARY 2020