Drive these cars @ 40 paise per km!

You might not have heard of Tara International or the electric cars and mopeds it plans to launch. But once the company unleashes Tara Tiny and Tara Titu -- which will cost about Rs 99,000 -- and Tara Shuttle and Tara Carrier, it is quite likely to become a household name. "While Tara Tiny and Tara Titu are priced at Rs 99,000 (approximately), Tara Shuttle and Tara Carrier are priced at Rs 500,000 (approximately). The company�s electric bikes are priced between Rs 12,000 and Rs 35,000. The running cost of these cars is about 40 paise per km, while the two-wheelers' running cost will be as low at 15 paise per km. (100 paise = 1 rupee)






Tara Titu specifications:
No. of seats: 2
Net weight: 940 kg
Wheel base: 1800 mm
Maximum speed: 55 km/hour
Maximum grade ability: 13%
Motor power: 5 kw
Battery voltage: 12V*4
Recharge duration: 8 hours
Driving charge: 130 km
Ground clearance: 110/mm
Running cost: 55 p/km
Battery capacity: 200/Ah

The Tara Titu which will come in 2 variants: 2-seater and 4-seater, and will cost from Rs 99,000 onwards.

The story of Tara Ganguly

At the first meeting, you are sure to take Tara S Ganguly for a retired army man. Once you strike a conversation with him, you understand why: the chairman and chief executive officer of Tara International has the same zeal and fervour of a general. He is a visionary who wants to give back something to the society.
It is this urge in Ganguly that has goaded him to conceive pollution free, battery-driven cars. He visualises in his mind's eye a pollution free world where green aka electric cars would replace fuel-driven cars.
"With the phenomenon of global warming breathing down our necks every minute, it is high time we switched over to battery-driven vehicles," he told rediff.com during an informal chat in Kolkata on March 15. During the meeting, he also shared some interesting details about his life, business, electric cars et al. Excerpts:

The Tara Titu which will come in 2 variants: 2-seater and 4-seater, and will cost from Rs 99,000 onwards.

Ganguly on his early life

Ganguly, born in 1942, went to the United States after finishing school at Darjeeling for a degree in engineering and management. He got a bachelor�s degree in industrial engineering from Pennsylvania University, Philadelphia, and a post-graduate degree in management engineering from Columbia University, New York.

After spending 10 years in the US working with DuPont Corporation, Ganguly returned to India to join his family business -- Bengal Enamel -- as production planning engineer and works manager. He gradually became the company's managing director.

On the company's inception
Bengal Enamel was set up in 1921 by Colonel Dwijendra Bhattacharya with nationalist leader Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy as its first chairman. The company soon became a name to reckon with for its enamelled and other ware like plates, mugs and waterbottles for households and the army. Business runs in the blood of colonel's grandson Ganguly and he decided to carry forward his ancestor's legacy.

The as yet unnamed electric beauty from the Tara International stable.

On why the company closed down
In the eighties, Bengal Enamel fell prey to competition from other materials and sank into the red before closing down in 1991. The company ended up before the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction and is still paying off its dues to banks and workers.

The Tara Shuttle, which is a 14-seater and expected to cost about Rs 500,000

Tara Shuttle specifications:
No. of seats: 14
Net weight: 1300 kg
Wheel base: 2800 mm
Maximum speed: 30 km/hour
Maximum grade ability: 15%
Motor power: 4.5 kw
Battery voltage: 6V*12
Recharge duration: 12 hours
Driving charge: 70 km
Ground clearance: 220/mm
Running cost: 70 p/km
Battery capacity: 180/Ah

The Tara Shuttle, which is a 14-seater and expected to cost about Rs 500,000.

On how Ganguly planned to resurrect it

Ganguly inherited from his ancestors an undaunted spirit and tenacity which refused to bow down in the face of adversity.
He constantly thought how to resurrect it in its new avatar. Hence came into being Tara International. With foreign partners agreeing to help it, the company decided to assemble and make zero pollution vehicles that are battery operated. A host of two/three/four wheelers for the Indian market are on the company's anvil.

The Tara Shuttle, which is a 14-seater and expected to cost about Rs 500,000.

On how he planned to launch electric vehicles

Tara International has teamed up with China's Aucma, a leading player in the electrical vehicles and appliances segment, to manufacture these cars.

The company plans to launch these electric two-wheelers by July. The joint venture was formed a few months back and initially the company would be importing and assembling about 1,000 units a month.

While initial investments in assembling wouldn't be much -- about Rs 3 crore (Rs 30 million) in working capital -- it would go up once component sourcing is taken up locally, Ganguly informed.

At the moment, four variants of electric cars are ready at the Tara International factory at Palta, a few kilometers from Kolkata.

These are Tara Tiny, Tara Titu, Tara Shuttle and Tara Carrier. While Tara Tiny and Tara Titu are priced at Rs 99,000 (approximately), Tara Shuttle and Tara Carrier are priced at Rs 500,000 (approximately).
The 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 hours of charging enables the bikes to travel 80 to 100 km whereas the cars (small and big) need 8 hours of charging to cover the same distance.

A two-wheeler from Tara. The two-wheelers from the company will be in the range of Rs 12,000 to Rs 35,000.

Some of the cars that are available at the moment at the company's factory are left-hand drives as "they are meant for the markets in US, China and California," informed Ganguly.
"Those meant for the Indian markets are being reassembled at our workshops." Apart from Bengal, company's other production centres are located in Pondicherry and Lucknow.

A two-wheeler from Tara. The two-wheelers from the company will be in the range of Rs 12,000 to Rs 35,000.

On what's the reason for so much diversification
Apart from automobiles, Tara International is also into IT, telecommunication tower, healthcare equipment, enamel wares, tanks and silos, real estate and property development.
India's economy is growing at 9 per cent on an average. So much to do, so little is done in this country, feels Ganguly.
He justifies the diversification by stating that India has tremendous potential for everything and it would be foolish not to explore all possibilities.

An electric three-wheeler from Tara. The two-wheelers from the company will be in the range of Rs 12,000 to Rs 35,000.

If Tara International has the responsibility to save this planet by producing green cars, it also has the onus of trying its hand at other things.

To expedite matters related to the electric vehicles' launch, Ganguly would be visiting China next week

No competition with the Nano

Ganguly says that neither he nor his cars have any intention of taking on Tata's Nano. "Nano is a 1-lakh car. In its case, it is the cost that is the centre of attention. But the cars that I have conceptualised are green cars. Therefore, the question of comparing it with Nano doesn't arise at all. The only note of similarity between the two happens to be the price, while the Nano is a 100,000-car, my Tara small cars are priced approximately at Rs 99,000," he adds.
Ganguly 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."

The Tara International team, led by chairman and CEO Tara Ganguly (5th from right) and vice president Biswajit Das (4th from right).