NEW DELHI: Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles, a part of the Mahindra Group, on Tuesday slashed the price of its electric car e2o by up to Rs 1.7 lakh by introducing a scheme under which a consumer pays a rental fee for the battery."What we are doing with the scheme is bringing down the cost of acquisition while we guarantee the customers battery performance coupled with inflation proof running costs. We will own the battery, all that the customer needs to do is pay a monthly fee," Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicles Chief Executive Officer Chetan Maini told media.Under the scheme, a customer needs to pay 'energy fee' starting from Rs 2,599 per month which will allow the user to drive 50,000 km (800 km of usage per month) over 5 years.The company will also provide 24x7 assistance and guarantee a courtesy car during battery repair period."With this, the acquisition cost of the e2o will come down on an average by about Rs 1.7 lakh in cities, including Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai where it is presently available," he said.For instance, in Delhi the base variant of the e2o will come at Rs 4.99 lakh as against Rs 6.5 lakh earlier, he added.Commenting on the idea behind the scheme, Maini said: "We have had a lot of customers who liked the car but were deterred by the cost. Now with this, we hope we will make it more affordable for them and push up sales."The sales of the electric car have been not up to expectations since it was launched in March last year with less than 500 units.Expressing disappointment over the interim Budget proposals, he said: "It has done something for the conventional car but the electric segment has been left out."Finance Minister P Chidambaram yesterday announced cutting of excise duty on small car, motorcycles, scooter and commercial vehicles to 8 per cent from 12 per cent, while that of SUVs to 24 per cent from 30 per cent. Large cars also saw excise reduction to 24 per cent from 27 per cent earlier and mid sized cars to 20 per cent from 24 per cent.