India’s Reva Electric Car Company this week announced it wants to establish an assembly plant in Iceland. Reva is working with investment firm Northern Light Energy for the project and hopes to be able to start developing electric vehicles in Iceland.
“Iceland is being considered by Reva as a possible site for a European assembly plant,” the company said in a statement without giving further details.
Under the agreement, Northern Light Energy (NLE) would become the sole distributor for Reva’s NXR and NXG cars in Iceland, the statement.
Independently of Reva, NLE already had a project goal for 2012 to develop infrastructure and services for electric vehicles in Iceland.
Reva’s NXR and NXG vehicles are scheduled for global launch in 2010 and 2011 respectively, and were on show at the Frankfurt Auto Fair in September.
“The 2012 project is one of the most ambitious yet achievable transport electrification projects in the world today and we are pleased to be able to contribute our technologies and products,” Reva President (European Operations) Keith Johnston said.
It would be wise to produce batteries – as they can be installed at any car or other device.
But getting stuck with just one car manufacturer – this is not wise (India is a great country but their “cars” are….not so great).
Needles to say that methods of transportation might be changed completely that would make such “car plant” just a waste of Icelandic resources.
PS. Cars as personal transportation is one of the worst (after pop-corn) and deadliest human invention (after Kalashnikov)….
Sure, pal ? I’ve been told Nobel was quite worshipped among the entire Far West. Shouldn’t we add also him to your chart ? :P
WELL, AS THE ICELANDIC ECONOMY IS, IT IS A VERY GOOD IDEA TO PUT FACTORIES HERE BECAUSE THE WORKING FORCE IS SO CHEAP NOW. I MEAN, IF YOU THINK OF A LINE WORKER AT A CAR FACTORY, IN ICELAND THE WOULD MAKE SOMETHING LIKE 140.000 KRONURS AFTER TAXES, THAT ROUGHLY 700 EUROS. ANYWHERE ELSE IN EUROPE THEY WOULD HAVE TO PAY AT LEAST 1500 FOR THE SAME JOB.
SO YES, A FACTORY HERE IS VERY VIABLE BECAUSE THE WORKING HAND IS SO CHEAP. THE PROBLEM IS THAT ICELAND IS RUNNING OUT OF ENERGY. THE CANNOT PRODUCE ALL THE ENERGY NECESSARY FOR THE ALUMINIUM FACTORIES, THAT REQUIRE MORE THAN THE HALF OF ENERGY OF ICELAND. SO THEY WILL HAVE TO IMPROVE THE PRODUCTION OF ENERGY AND PUT MORE THERMAL ENERGY PLANTS. BUT THAT WILL COST MONEY.
IT IS SOMEHOW VERY STRANGE TO SEE HOW ICELAND IS BECOMING SUCH A CONTAMINATED COUNTRY WITH ALL THE POLLUTION AND CHEMICAL POISONS THAT GO TO THE WATER AND AIR OUT OF ALL THOSE ALUMINIUM FACTORIES THEY HAVE BEEN BUILDING ALL AROUND THE COUNTRY. AND NOW IF THEY PUT THESE OTHER FACTORIES… WELL.. THIS IS REALLY BAD.
IF ICELANDERS WERE CLEVER ENOUGH, THEY WOULD DEVELOP OTHER KIND OF TECHNOLOGY, LIKE SOFTWARE ENGINEERING, PRODUCTION OF ROBOTICS, DOMOTIC SOLUTIONS, ETC.. MORE LIKE IN THE DESING PART. IT WOULD ALSO BE VERY SUCCESSFUL TO DEVELOP BIOTECHNOLOGY COMPANIES IN THE COUNTRY, AND CONTEMPORARY ECOLOGIC AGRICULTURE… BUT GOING THE WAY OF THE HEAVY INDUSTRY PRODUCTION LIKE CARS AND ALUMINIUM… THAT IS SO 3RD WORLD…
Nice article. :-)
“THAT ROUGHLY 700 EUROS. ANYWHERE ELSE IN EUROPE THEY WOULD HAVE TO PAY AT LEAST 1500 FOR THE SAME JOB. ”
Not so. A good average wage in Poland is more like 800euro and there is a better supply of well educated people with excellent transport links throughout Europe. Also you are not likely to have a corrupt government attempting to to boost the currency at some point in the future and dump massive tax increases to pay for it. Iceland isn’t a cheap place to do business, when the cost of food, energy and everything else is still astronomically high.
And Poland is not the cheapest manufacturing country in the EU, not by a long way.
I think Riva’s slight interest in Iceland is from the ecological and fashionable aspect rather than good business judgement, I expect they are appealing to the hippy market, people who buy TeePee’s and Yurts.
This is an interesting article.
Yes, at the moment indian cars do not have a good reputation but the same was true for japanese cars 30 years ago.
Today Japan is an absolute leader in the production of cars.
If India manages to gain an edge in the production of electronic cars it is well possible that the future will belong to them. After all, it is clear that the present fuel consumption by cars is not sustainable.
Iceland as a location for the production of cars is not obvious to me.
Yes, labour is cheap at the moment and yes, it would be possible to obtain cheap energy but what about the location?
There is no large market for these cars in Iceland (though I am looking forward to the first 4X4 running on electricity) and such cars need to be transported to Europe, America or Asia. Such transportation costs might ruin the competetive advantage.
After all, recently new car factories have been built in countries which do not only have cheap labour but also possess a good location .
Slovakia is a good example: it is central in Europe and new cars can easily be transported to the locations were they will be sold.
VW just opened a factory in Kaluga, Russia, but it mainly intends to sell the cars produced there in Russia. Moreover Russia has a good railway system and it is possible to transport these cars easily.
Iceland would depend on shipping.I do not even know if the harbour of Reykjavik has the facilities to receive the enormous ships that are normally used for the transportation of cars.
To Niels about enormous ships in Reykjavik
PS. India is not Japan. Never will be.
Listen to what this guy is saying about the batteries
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV8_meso6kU
The first Tesla roadster for Europe market came to Iceland, here it is racing a Porsche 911 on the 1/4 mile track, this is the Brabus version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8PulDjU9Ks
if you want one
http://teslamotors.is/index.php
Alexander,
Nice pix. You made them?
Do these ships dock in Reykjavik harbour? This harbour looked very small to me.
“Do these ships dock in Reykjavik harbour? This harbour looked very small to me.”
There are lots of harbours here in Iceland,
we import lots of raw material for Aluminum smelters and export lots of Aluminum in 10 ton blocks for example, the biggest shipping companys are Eimskip and Samskip, we have been shipping goods across the Atlantic longer than any one else in the world.
2012.is New beginning.
http://2012.is/index.php?option=com_frontpage&msl=english&Itemid=61
More about Reva
http://green.autoblog.com/2009/11/12/reva-partners-with-northern-lights-energy-to-bring-nxr-electric/
Some information about one of our power company’s
http://www.landsvirkjun.com/operations/power-stations/
How we convert Co2 into fuel, like Ethanol or Bio-Diesel for example using new technology.
http://www.carbonrecycling.is/index.html
A factory is being built at Svartsengi geo-thermal power plant, it will generate 4m liters of fuel the first year from Co2.
http://www.mannvit.com/AboutUs/News/Readarticle/1588
this video shows a simple conversion of a Toyota Yaris from Gas to Electric power.
Toyota Yaris converted to a simple electric car
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG2ThczcM70
This factory produces electric components that can be useful in producing batteries for EV’s.
http://www.becromal.eu/iceland_projects.php
http://www.drivingsustainability.org/
AXEL I LIKE YOUR POST BECAUSE IS TALKING ABOUT REAL POSIBILITIES AND PROJECTS FOR ICELAND.
FINALLY WE ARE STARTING TO UNDERSTAND THINGS, AND KEEP AWAY THE USUAL “ALL ABOUT FISH” DISCOURSES…
Re: pictures
Yes, the pictures are mine. If you want to read descriptions – use Google Translate :-)
Re: harbor
It’s not the area that is critical but depth and currents in the harbor. Reykjavik is not the biggest one but can accommodate almost all ship sizes.
Very interesting article, I never would have thought about using Iceland as a place for cheap production, but on the other hand I know little about Iceland.
Thanks for this great post!