EKA Mobility, an electric vehicle and technology company, and a subsidiary of Pinnacle Industries Ltd., said it had received a letter of allotment (LoA) for procurement, operation, and maintenance of 310 electric buses on gross cost contracting, from Convergence Energy Services Ltd.’s recently concluded tender for 6,465 electric buses.
Founder and chairman Sudhir Mehta said, “Our electric buses will be completely designed and manufactured in India. This order is a testament to the fact that design and making in India is now a reality and is a viable alternative that can replace the Chinese products that are coming into the market.” “We are confident to build an ecosystem for sustainable transportation, that is efficient, reliable, and profitable,” he said.
These buses will be deployed within 18 months and the first of the buses will be on road in three months from now.
EKA would need to mobilise about ₹400-crore investment for this contract, a top executive said.
The tender was rolled out by Convergence Energy Services Ltd., a wholly owned Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. (EESL) subsidiary under the National e-Bus program Phase 1. EKA’s e-buses will be deployed in the transport departments of Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh and Kerala for intra-city operations as part of the government’s efforts to provide clean, sustainable, and efficient transportation options for millions of people. The deployment of these 310 electric buses for 12 years is expected to save 1,40,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, the company said. With this order, EKA’s order book has grown to more than 500 electric buses.
