Pinnacle Industries’ subsidiary EKA, an electric vehicle manufacturing & technology company, has received the CMVR certification from the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) for its 9m pure electric bus.
EKA can now start trials and sales of the 9m electric bus, EKA E9, to customers in the coming months, noted Dr Sudhir Mehta, Founder & Chairman, EKA. He said, ‘Having passed all certification tests in this short time frame is a truly monumental achievement by the whole team. We now look forward to ramping up our production and delivering our electric buses to our customers.”
The E9, EKA’s first battery-electric bus, features a monocoque steel chassis and a composite structure. The OEM plans to retail the bus featuring a seating capacity for 31 people, along with added standing capacity. With a 200-kilometre range on a single charge, the vehicle is also fuel cell capable, said the company’s official statement.
Equipped with an in-house developed operating system software, the OEM claimed that the same has been tested for reliability and ensures application-based configuration of the vehicle. It is one of the few commercial vehicle manufacturers approved under the Champion OEM Scheme & EV component manufacturing scheme of the Government of India’s Auto PLI policy.