Reva NXR launched & Reva NXG revealed at Frankfurt

The Reva NXG which has been revealed at Frankfurt

Reva has launched the Reva NXR – a four seat hatch – and revealed the Reva NXG – a two seat Targa – at Frankfurt.

Reva made the G-Wiz. It sold, but it was the butt of many a joke. But that hasn’t put Reva off moving forward, and they’ve revealed a couple of far more credible eletric cars at Frankfurt this week.

The Reva NXR is the proper launch and will be available to order straight away with delivery starting in early 2010. The styling is still pretty unconvincing, but for a small city EV it’s probably acceptable. The NXR is a three-door, four seat hatchback with a range of around 100 miles per charge and a top speed of 65mph. Normal charge time is eight hours, but the fast-charge system allows a full charge in 90 minutes and a 25 mile top-up in 15 minutes.

The reveal was the Reva NXG which is a far more funky proposition. It uses the same teleamtics as the NXR with a range of 125 miles and a top speed of 80mph. The two-door, two-seat, targa-top NXG is due to go in to prouction in 2011.

When we reported on the Reva NXR and NXG last week we were taken to task by Reva’s European President Keith Johnston, who castigated us for being negative about the cars without having the full facts at our disposal to justify that negativity. But in our defence, we didn’t need a raft of facts to make a judgement on the styling of the NXR (which is better than the G-Wiz), and Reva were somewhat less than forthcoming about their REVive ‘Range Anxiety’ promise.

The Reva NXR launched at Frankfurt

We speculated that REVive would consist of a guy in a lorry with a big battery charger roaming around town topping-up flat Revas. But it’s not. It’s a system that will remotely yield a few extra miles from a dead battery to let the Reva owner get home. So hats off – it’s a lot better than we thought. But it does seem a bit like having a reserve tank with a spare gallon in you can’t use without the makers permission. Still, Reva are right – it will take away a degree of ‘Range Anxiety’. Until people start to use it every day.

The Reva NXR can be ordered straight away with a refundable €500 deposit. Prices start at €9,995 for the lead-acid battery version and €14,995 for the lithiumion version. Full details in the Reva NXR and NXG Press Release.