Pinnacle Industries has decided to invest Rs 2,000 crore to set up Electric Vehicle (EV) manufacturing units in Pune and Indore. It is among the 20 companies that were authorised to launch EV manufacturing under the Production-Linked Incentives (PLI) scheme. Under the Eka label, the Pune-based company has already established an EV unit and has two bus models awaiting regulatory approvals. In September 2021, the Government announced the PLI scheme for the auto sector, contributing Rs 26,058 crore in incentives, including 12 other production sectors. The auto sector scheme aims to incentivise domestic manufacturing of high-value progressive automotive technology vehicles and products. Over the next five years, it is likely to draw more than Rs 42,500 crore in new investments, incremental production worth over Rs 2.3 lakh crore and generate more than 7.5 lakh new jobs. Since the scheme's announcement the previous month, the Government approved 20 PLI applications out of 115 it received. Sudhir Mehta, Pinnacle Industries and Eka CMD told the media that the plants should be ready over the next 12-18 months, and they plan to invest Rs 2,000 crore into the EV business within the coming five years. He said the EV unit of the firm has already created two buses (9 and 12 meters or 32-60 seaters category) and is awaiting homologation and additional regulatory clearances, which are likely to be over in the next two months. Mehta said these buses would be entirely developed and made locally and not from the battery cells and motors imported from Chinese vendors. A significant feature of the Eka buses is that they are 10-15% lighter than their competitors as they are built with stainless steel. The firm already has a bus plant in Pithampur, with 40 acres. It would establish another facility in Chakan in Pune on a 15-acre plot, and also a proto facility at Bhosri near Pune. Mehta informed that the funds for the EV play would come from internal accruals and debt besides the equity sale in Pinnacle Mobility Solutions, an EV subsidiary of the group. He said that he is speaking to the state road transport corporations for selling EV buses and looking at rolling out at least 1,000 buses in the first year. Over the long term, Eka plans to design, manufacture and deliver a complete variety of EVs, fuel cell electric vehicles, and alternative fuel vehicles. Image Source Also read: Goa govt notifies EV Concessional Charging Infra Policy 2021