Ownership Review of Revolt RV400
This is an owner’s review of the Revolt RV400 electric bike by Aakash Gupta. Delivered on 15 October 2019 and was among the first few to get it. The review comprises of
- Buying Experience
- Performance, Comfort and Range
- Mobile Application
- Swapping Facility
- Economics of owning the bike
- Conclusion
Buying Experience
I was looking on YouTube for some tutorial videos on 28 August 2019 when I came across the live stream of Revolt launch event. I was not looking for a bike back then but just out of curiosity watched the entire video and like everyone was surprised by battery warranty and MRP (My Revolt Plan) which is basically a loan from their financial partner and includes maintenance. Went to the showroom (Preet Vihar, Delhi) the very next day while returning from college.
Saw the bike there for the very first time. But test drives were to start next day so just sat on it, checked the posture, weight and looks. Liked it so went ahead to book one after permission from home for Rs3999. I booked red colour but later changed to black. Was initially told 10-15 days’ time for delivery but that did not happen. Simultaneously I was asked to complete KYC for the loan of 1,10,615 from Rattan India Finance, during the launch event Rahul Sharma said just Aadhar card is needed and even students can buy but when I started the KYC procedure I got to know that students can not buy and that it was a typical loan procedure involving lot of paper work. Thus, had to transfer booking to my Mother’s name for the loan. I visited the hub after 6 days with all the paper work and also took the test drive that day.
Bike felt more than adequate for city usage and as it was a short test drive had to take their word on the range. Decided not to cancel the booking as in worst case scenario I would have to use switch service for my commute to my college and a facility was not far from my college.
After 15 days I enquired about loan and bike status, got a reply that it would take 10 days further. After 10 days loan was sanctioned but dealer had no idea about when bikes would come and I started to look at other electric offerings for a short while but none including the Okinawa and hero electric were even near the revolt’s package. One day all of a sudden dealer called and asked about colour preference and informed black is available and would need to wait another 2 weeks for red.
Hence I decided to go ahead with black. Then after 2 days he called again and informed that bikes have arrived and I would have to visit dealership to complete RTO and loan formalities. I visited along with my mother as bike is registered and financed on her name, signed the papers and paid the RTO tax and all other charges that totalled to Rs11000(including a revolt branded Mavox helmet). The dealer asked me to select the bike from 5-6 black RV400 with him.
While uploading Aadhar card to avail FAME-2 subsidy the dealer noticed that the process could not be completed without a Delhi address Aadhar card hence asked me to get address changed on Aadhar card for which I applied online and got it issued next day.
RTO process took 2 days and number plate came on 3rd day and finally brought the bike home on 15th October after signing the data sharing agreement.
Performance and Range
Some stats
1. Top speed - 41 in eco, 60 in normal and 84 in sports
2. Range - 140Kms in eco, 100kms in normal and 125kms at 50kmph
3. Total Cost - 1.48L + 0.11L(RTO) = 1.59L
4. Battery capacity- 3.24KwH
5. Motor - 3Kw and 5kw peak power output
6. Charging time - 20-80% in 2 hours and 2 hours more for 100
My college is 47kms one way. The roads are good with little traffic as compared to other parts of Delhi.
I have always charged my battery to 100% before leaving and ridden at 50 kmph constantly in normal mode most of the times except few sports mode engagement en-route. I have always returned home (almost 100 km) with 26% battery remaining that too I use sports mode for last few Kms just for fun. Thus, the range that can be expected is 120-130 Km if ridden at 50 kmph and so in eco mode 140 Km must be achievable easily. One day I switched my battery while going to college that took me extra 15 mins due to the de tour and 2 mins for swapping but on my return journey I could ride on 70 kmph on ring road and hence reached home sooner. One can forget about range anxiety while in Delhi during 10 AM to 7 PM. Meter indicated range and SOC are very accurate.
My journey takes 1 hr 15 mins, in an ICE vehicle that would result in fatigue but due to 0 vibration of electric vehicles (Research Paper) and single speed transmission(no clutch no gear) I don’t feel fatigue even after riding so much. As I said earlier, performance is more than adequate for the city. People who want 100+ speeds would be disappointed but practically in city it keeps up with all the other bikes and is the fastest from one traffic light to the other. One can feel performance drop with lower SOC for sure the bike would not go 74+ when SOC is <30%.
I have added the seat covers from aftermarket accessory shops custom stitched for my bike.
2 issues that I faced were
Noise from the belt under heavy acceleration – Resolved by cleaning the belt as it was due to dust accumulation in the belt and I am asked to clean the belt with a toothbrush whenever this occurs or bring it to SC for cleaning.
Sometimes the SOC and range went blank while riding – Resolved by the mechanic by straightening the bent BMS pin on the battery connector using a plier.
Mobile Application
Few Screenshots of the application.
The bike is parked in a covered basement parking thus showing no GPS signal which otherwise works fine.
Once, I faced an issue with the bike that it was not communicating with Revolt’s servers, the problem was resolved by their revolt over phone call. They took my phone number and some details regarding the bike and did some reset and within minutes it was working. The service has been excellent, swift and FOC as promised. Any problem is resolved with a call to their representative. I faced another problem that one of my remote was not working I WhatsApp’d him a video of the same and a new key was issued which I am told that I will receive within this week (by 15 Dec). The bike trips tab and order battery feature of the application are not functional yet. User manual is available on the application.
Swapping Facility
There are 4 switch stations in Pune and Delhi each. Operational 7 days a week from 10AM to 7PM. I can confirm the battery availability in Delhi but the Pune Screenshot is a WhatsApp forward. I have switched my battery 3 times and I am using 4th battery right now, all the batteries that I have used had 100% SOH and were given with 100% SOC every time. The application shows our switch records as per the following screenshot
This is how they keep their batteries and charge them. Battery swap is done by their personal who takes the photograph of swapped battery and vehicle number. It’s a 1minute job. While discussing with their team on how they plan to expand this, I was informed that based on bike density they will expand their switch facilities.
Economics of Owning the Bike
I used to commute using metro to and FRO before revolt.
I usually took Rapido(baxi) to reach the metro station and back - 2x20=40.
I Used E-Rickshaw from Samaypur Badli metro station to college - 2x15 = 30.
Metro fare was Rs54x2 = 108.
Thus I spent 108+40+30=178 and it took me 2 hours and I was dependent upon Rapido app for a ride to metro.
Battery takes 4units to charge (3.24kwh battery) thus 4*7(per unit rate) = Rs28.
And I return with at least ¼ battery remaining thus I spend 0.75*28= Rs21 for fuel.
Maintenance is 0 for 3 years.
Huge Savings plus goodwill!
I think for users with <1500kms monthly commute cannot recover their complete EMI with fuel bills but with >1500kms per month we can get a bike for the cost of fuel that too without considering maintenance cost of ICE bikes that could bring this number to 1000Kms a month.
Conclusion
Current Charging Infrastructure
People living in apartments have to face this problem. We have to carry the batteries home, charge them and put it back. There is no co operation from RWA/Builders, everyone comes looks and asks cost, range and top speed but none of them helps. I live in Sethi Max Royal Noida and my builder denies a charging socket and asked me to run a cable from my meter (at 20th floor) to the basement, such is their intellect.
We can hope it gets better with time or else EV adoption will remain thin. Below is the 2nd DC fast charger in Noida by EESL under the MoU for 100 of such chargers in Noida.
One can read here how an Ather user is bullied by the RWA of his society which re-affirms that removable battery are needed by our country especially in urban areas and creating a revolving battery bank like revolt is hugely practical.
Coming back to the Bike
After owning a slow speed scooter 8 years back, I did not think that my next 2-wheeler will be electric. But Revolt has made a product which is practical for daily usage and is fun to ride. The quality of the product is good and nowhere does It feel like a cheap Chinese bike although Battery and motor are from China they perform adequately.
Everywhere I go it excites everyone and gives them a glimpse of what future would be like and what a start-up can do. Surely it is very much identical to Super-Soco but offers best in class product and battery warranty (charger carries 2years warranty).
The Range and top speed are as promised and Service is top notch, all my issues are resolved quickly. I went to East Delhi workshop with the SOC meter going blank issue and battery swapping, I was out with the issue resolved and battery swapped within 10mins. I can’t imagine such service from other brands which would first open a job card, wait for a bay to clear, rectify the problem, go for billing and then deliver the bike.
Saves a lot of money in form of fuel expenses and maintenance.
Comfortable for me as well as the environment.
Goes to speeds which are practically unachievable in the cities.
If I nit-pick the only flaw I see is the belt noise that is caused due to dust accumulation. To end, the bike is fun, practical and economical. This was my experience after riding my Black Revolt RV400 Premium for 1726Kms.
This is revolt Chennai in the making and it is confirmed by a revolt official and Kamlesh from pluginindia further said that Hyderabad is also in the making.