EKA Mobility, a subsidiary of Pinnacle Industries, has announced the acquisition of a significant order of 57 electric buses from the Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC).
The electric buses will benefit approximately 1,33,15,200 passengers every year. With this order, EKA’s order book has grown significantly, with more than 500 electric buses and 5,000 electric light commercial vehicle orders in the pipeline.
Sudhir Mehta, Founder and Chairman of EKA said, “Our demo product was successfully inspected by MBMC’s team recently and is a testament to the fact that design and making in India is now a reality. We look forward to commencing the deliveries in the coming months, which will further fortify our partnership with Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Corporation and help in environment-friendly mass mobility for the city of Mumbai.”
EKA stated that the 57 e-buses ordered by the MBMC will be manufactured at facility, adhering to the highest quality standards. The buses will feature spacious interiors, comfortable seating, air-conditioning, and advanced passenger amenities to ensure a delightful travel experience. Additionally, the e-buses will be equipped with intelligent charging infrastructure to support efficient operations and minimise downtime.
The company has also developed a 9-metre city bus on a hydrogen fuel cell platform, that is uniquely designed and optimised to suit Indian road transportation needs. Going forward, the company plans to introduce multiple electric and hydrogen fuel-cell bus variants, along with an e-LCV range.
The development comes months after the company announced in February that it received a letter of allotment (LoA) for the procurement, operation, and maintenance of 310 electric buses on gross contracting for the recently concluded tender of 6465 electric buses. The tender was rolled out by state-owned Convergence Energy Services, a wholly-owned Energy Efficiency Services (EESL) subsidiary under phase one of the National Electric Bus Programme (NEBP).
The deployment of these buses is expected to save a gross of 33,704 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions as compared to diesel buses, which is equivalent to planting 102,134 trees.