EKA, an electric vehicle manufacturing & technology company, and a subsidiary of Pinnacle Industries, received the CMVR certification for its 2.5-ton GVM electric light commercial vehicle from the Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT). The Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR) certification was handed over to the company’s research, design, and homologation team, at the hands of Mr. K.V.R.K. Prasad, Director, Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT).
This makes EKA Mobility the first mover to bring an electric pickup truck to the Indian market in the 2.5-ton GVM category, ahead of other automakers. EKA successfully completed all the required functional and safety testing and approvals to achieve the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR) 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-LCV in Pune (Maharashtra), India, this month and plans to roll out the first lot to select customers early next year.
Speaking at the occasion, Dr. Sudhir Mehta, Founder & Chairman, EKA by Pinnacle Mobility Solutions, said, “The completion of our e-LCV’s 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 for EKA’s e-LCV 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 revolutionize the last-mile delivery segment and accelerate our nation’s transition to zero-emission vehicles.”
Adding to this, Mr. 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 e-LCV 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 is a subsidiary of Pinnacle Industries Limited, India’s leading automotive seating, interiors & specialty vehicles company, and is one of the only commercial vehicle manufacturers approved under the Champion OEM Scheme & EV component manufacturing scheme of the Government of India’s Auto PLI policy.
EKA is reinventing the design philosophy and manufacturing of electric commercial vehicles by developing sharable technologies, to democratize EVs with best-in-class TCO (total cost of ownership) solutions and a sustainable ecosystem. EKA will design, manufacture, and supply a complete range of Electric Vehicles, Fuel Cell Electric vehicles, and alternative fuel vehicles. The brand will also house components assembly and manufacturing, EV traction systems, EV energy storage systems, etc., going forward.
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