After the E9 bus, EKA Mobility (EKA) of Pinnacle Industries, has received the CMVR certification for its 2.5-tonne Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) electric small commercial vehicle from the Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT).
The CMVR certification was handed over to the company’s research, design, and homologation team, at the hands of K.V.R.K. Prasad, Director, Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT). Aimed at giving the OEM a first mover advantage in the to 2.5-tonne GVM category, ahead of other automakers. The OEM is claimed to have successfully completed all the required functional and safety testing and approvals to achieve the certification, which is a critical step for the company to start trials and sales of the product in the coming months. The company is expected to start production of the e-SCV in Pune (Maharashtra), India, this month and plans to roll out the first lot to select customers early next year.
Speaking of the validation, Dr. Sudhir Mehta, Founder & Chairman, EKA by Pinnacle Mobility Solutions, said, “The completion of our homologation is a truly monumental achievement by the whole team in a such short span of time. It strengthens our commitment to making the first-time-right product from scratch in India, for India and the global market. We have a lot of excitement and expectations from our customers and the unique value addition it provides them. With the lowest total cost of ownership, unrivaled design, and user experience, we are confident that our product will revolutionise the last-mile delivery segment and accelerate our nation’s transition to zero-emission vehicles.”
B Anil Baliga, President, EKA highlighted, “We are extremely proud of our team for their rigorous hard work and innovation in achieving this milestone in record time. This segment is likely to reach close to 100,000 numbers over the next five years. We are planning to push the initial lot by end of Jan’ 23 to a select few customers for initial feedback, and performance tracking & will eventually ramp up the production over the next couple of months. Major thrust on the sales will be from mid of 2023, with a completely ‘Made in India’ product from a state-of-the-art smart lean manufacturing unit.”
EKA will look to leverage its approval under the Champion OEM Scheme and the EV component manufacturing scheme of the Government of India’a PLI scheme. the company aims to design, manufacture, and supply a complete range of Electric Vehicles, Fuel Cell Electric vehicles, and alternative fuel vehicles. It will also house components assembly and manufacturing, EV traction systems, EV energy storage systems, etc., going forward.
