"E-on"

E-on??? Are you trying to find the meaning of this in the mini lexicon that you have? That's what I did, when I saw the name and it shows 'an immeasurably long period of time' or 'supreme power emanating to operate the universe' as its meaning. But what's the relation between this and the title of my blog post? Read below...

Would you like to commute in an electric rickshaw revved by a joystick to steer, accelerate and brake, with no foul emissions and engine noise? At the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, (IIT-B) in a crammed workshop where working hours keep the lights on past 4 am, a start-up of 20-something engineers led by an IIT professor think so. The world's best automakers are designing electric vehicles, and this campus start-up wants to be ready with its own technology too, for the day when India is finally ready for cheaper, non-polluting electric vehicles.

When people all over the world is talking about Ratan Tata's dream car 'Nano', now it is time for another revolution, an electric car. The electric car, developed by IIT Bombay, is named e-on. This is a proto-type of the car which does not require petrol and runs at the speed of 30 km per hour. The speed of the car is kept limited at 30 km, but can be increased. Initially the car will run in the campus of IIT-B, which plans to modify the car in future. Developers are still testing various options to make it better and commercially viable.

The car will have electric front wheel drive and a seating capacity of two. Also, it will not have regular steering but an attractive joystick with foot pedals. They call it 'e-on' after its electric ignition and are studying its intellectual property value to file a patent. It's a futuristic technology which will be driven by wire and it is maintenance free due to the lack of mechanical controls.

The e-on can hold two passengers and run for 50 km on one charge, but at a humble top speed of 30 km per hour for campus roads. Electronic digital controls can turn the vehicle 360 degrees by maintaining a different speed for each of the two front wheels.

On what colors will e-on be launched? Red or blue? Will these run on Indian roads soon? Let's wait and see!

Source: Hindustan Times