September 2024: Pinnacle Industries' 5,000-Unit E-Bus Plant in Chakan

A new e-bus plant in Chakan, Maharashtra, is being prepared by Pinnacle Industries, a Pune-based company that supplies seating systems for buses and ambulances. The plant, which will have a capacity of 5,000 units (annual), is for its EV business division, Eka Mobility, which produces electric buses in 9- and 12-metre-long sizes. The plant is expected to be operational in September 2024, according to Dr Sudhir Mehta, the chairman of Pinnacle Industries and the founder and chairman of Eka Mobility.

Dr Mehta talked to Autocar Professional at the Bharat Mobility Show in New Delhi last week, where Eka Mobility unveiled its new products in the e-LCV segment. The company launched the Eka K1.5, its range of 1.5-tonne LCVs, with a starting price of Rs 13.90 lakh, ex-showroom. The company claims that the K1.5 electric three-wheelers have the highest payload capacity and the lowest TCO in their category. The K1.5 has multiple variants and can be adapted for eight different uses. The e-three-wheeler has a 300V EV system and can be charged quickly.

Another plant in Indore to be set up in CY2025

The company plans to increase its e-bus capacity at Chakan and also set up a second plant in Pithampur, near Indore, in CY2025 to meet the growing demand and ensure future readiness. "We aim to double our capacities to 10,000 units in the next phase across the two plants," Dr Mehta said.

The company is also setting up a manufacturing capacity of around 6,000 units for LCVs and will raise it to 12,000 units across the two plants.

Investment of Rs. 2,000 crore is planned for the next 5 years**

Pinnacle Industries has allocated an investment of Rs 2,000 crore for its EV venture for the next five years, which includes its pledge under the government's Auto PLI scheme to make EV components locally. The company has already invested nearly Rs 500 crore in Eka Mobility, which has also received a joint investment of US$ 100 million from Japan's Mitsui and Netherlands-based VDL.

The company is developing its products in-house at its R&D centre in Pune, which has 250 members and is doing EV development work from scratch. Eka Mobility created its first e-bus in three years and hopes to export its products to foreign markets as well.

Dr Mehta said, "We want to make the business profitable and sustainable. We are not following a slash-and-burn strategy, but we want to make profits soon. The EV space is very dynamic, and we are newcomers in the field. Many big players are well-established, so we will proceed cautiously."

"However, the main challenge for us now is not the competition but to get the EV buses running. The EVs have favourable unit economics now, and hence, if the supporting infrastructure grows, this segment would definitely prosper," he said.

The company anticipates strong growth in the electric bus segment in the coming years due to the government's support for greener transportation. "The government is promoting e-buses, and there are many tenders available. We hope to get our fair share of orders there," Dr Mehta said.

Eka Mobility currently has orders for about 700 e-buses, of which the first batch of 60 e-buses will begin operating in Mira Bhayandar and Ulhasnagar in Maharashtra by March-end 2024. "Since e-bus orders are mostly driven by GCC (gross cost contract), we will focus on Mumbai first and then move on to other deployments, including those in the private sector," Dr Mehta said.

Pinnacle Industries has entered into a unique partnership with PPS Motors, an automotive dealer, which will establish the service facilities for Eka Mobility in major cities across the nation. The company says that the LCV segment, on the contrary, mainly depends on B2B sales, and it anticipates strong demand in that sector as well. "There are many e-commerce logistics providers, and our goal is first to demonstrate the use cases and then increase the volumes. We are already present in Pune, and we will soon expand to Delhi-NCR. We will start with 6-8 markets and gradually explore other cities," Dr Mehta said.