Energy In Motion has opened its Pune EV and battery pack plant and plans a heavy electric tipper and a rigid truck in 15 months. Know the plant, battery and range details.
Key points
- EIM Opens Its Pune Plant For Electric Trucks
- The Two New Trucks Coming In 15 Months
- What Is Inside The Pune Plant
- Luna Battery And Range
- Foton Partnership And The Testing Lab
Energy In Motion, better known as EIM, has opened its electric truck and battery pack assembly plant in Talegaon near Pune. Managing Director Narendra Murkumbi said two more products are lined up in the next 15 months, a heavy electric tipper and a rigid-body truck.
EIM Opens Its Pune Plant For Electric Trucks
Table of Contents
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1. EIM Opens Its Pune Plant For Electric Trucks |
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2. The Two New Trucks Coming In 15 Months |
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3. What Is Inside The Pune Plant |
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4. Luna Battery And Range |
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5. Foton Partnership And The Testing Lab |
The plant matters because it moves EIM from importing its trucks to assembling them in India. The company's current model, the EIM-Foton Ashwa 4x2 electric tractor, sits in the 55-tonne gross combination weight category and is used for container movement, port logistics and other heavy freight. It adds to the growing list of electric trucks being built for Indian roads.
The Two New Trucks Coming In 15 Months
The first is a heavy electric tipper aimed at mining and road construction. The second is a rigid-body truck for ordinary freight transport. Both are expected within 15 months, though the company hasn't shared payload, range or battery details for either one yet.
A heavy tipper is an interesting choice. Mining and construction routes are short, repetitive and usually run from the same site every day, which is where charging and battery swapping are easier to plan. For anyone watching the tipper segment, an electric option will be worth tracking once specifications arrive.
What Is Inside The Pune Plant
The complex covers more than 35,000 sq m and brings truck assembly, battery pack manufacturing and battery testing under one roof. The truck assembly unit takes up over 19,000 sq m, and the battery pack facility another 10,920 sq m.
Annual vehicle assembly capacity is 5,000 units, and EIM says it can be expanded. Battery pack capacity is 2.4 GWh, which works out to about 6,000 battery boxes a year. One thing to note is that cells and pack kits will still be imported, and only the pack assembly happens locally.
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Luna Battery And Range
The new Luna battery is a next-generation LFP pack of about 400.5 kWh, built with CATL cells. Murkumbi said it holds roughly 42 percent more energy than the existing 282 kWh pack and can run for over 200 km on a charge, against about 150 km from the older battery. Estimated battery life is around 7.5 lakh km.
To put those numbers in context, a light truck like the Eicher Pro 2049 EV runs on a 64 kWh battery for about 174 km. A heavy tractor is a very different job, which is why EIM is planning swappable battery boxes for heavy commercial vehicle use. EIM also signed a deal with CATL in July for 500 MWh of LFP cells and pack kits.
Foton Partnership And The Testing Lab
EIM's technology and supply partner is BAIC Foton Motor of China. The two have a six-year exclusive agreement covering assembly, marketing and distribution of Foton commercial vehicles above 18 tonnes in India. Murkumbi added that the technology in EIM's current electric trucks has been running in China for more than four years.
Inside the same complex, EIM has built a 4,983 sq m battery testing facility with Automotive Test Systems. It has around 50 test benches covering electrical performance, thermal management, mechanical durability and safety, with a Phase 1 investment of Rs 60 crore. The lab is also meant for the wider EV industry. Buyers who want to compare trucks across diesel and electric options will find that kind of testing capability useful in the years ahead.
For now, anyone planning a purchase can use the EMI calculator to see how an electric truck's higher upfront cost looks against monthly payments, and the nearest dealer can confirm which models are on sale today.
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Frequently Asked Questions On Commercial Vehicles
Q1. Which electric trucks will EIM launch in the next 15 months?
Ans: EIM plans a heavy electric tipper for mining and road construction and a rigid-body truck for conventional freight transport.
Q2. What is the capacity of EIM's new Pune plant?
Ans: The Talegaon plant can assemble 5,000 vehicles a year, with scope to expand, and has a battery pack capacity of 2.4 GWh.
Q3. What is the price and payload of the Eicher Pro 2049 EV?
Ans: The Eicher Pro 2049 EV is priced between Rs 11.80 and Rs 12.20 lakh ex-showroom and has a payload capacity of 2 tons.
Q4. What battery and range does the Eicher Pro 2049 EV offer?
Ans: It uses a 64 kWh battery that gives about 174 km per charge, depending on the route, and takes around 100 minutes to charge.