EKA Mobility Partners Mitsui, VDL Groep to Develop EV Ecosystem With INR 850 Cr Joint Investment

Electric vehicle manufacturer EKA Mobility has announced a strategic partnership with Japan's Mitsui & Co., Ltd and Dutch technology firm VDL Groep. A proposed joint investment of over USD 100 million (around INR 850 crore) to be infused in phases, the company said. As part of the collaboration, EKA Mobility is set to receive significant and strategic investments from Mitsui, while VDL Groep will contribute technological support and establish an equity partnership.

The joint investment, totaling over USD 100 million, is aimed at making India a global hub for the manufacturing and sourcing of electric vehicles, as per the company's official statement. Sudhir Mehta, Founder & Chairman of EKA Mobility, expressed that this partnership represents a significant step toward making India a global hub for electric vehicle manufacturing. “We are proud to join forces with such distinguished partners who share our vision of sustainable, profitable & efficient transportation,” Mehta said.

Nobuyoshi Umezawa, GM of Mobility Business Division at Mitsui & Co India, emphasized their commitment to contributing to ‘Make in India’ through the collaboration with EKA and VDL. Leveraging EKA’s engineering expertise and local network, along with VDL's advanced technological capabilities, the trio aims to foster eco-friendly societies. Umezawa added that Mitsui plans to utilize its global network to facilitate the export of EKA's competitive products to overseas markets.

Growth Market in India

VDL Bus & Coach CEO, Rolf-Jan Zweep, while acknowledging the partnership, said, “Although the basis of our high-quality development and manufacturing competences lie in north-western Europe, we see many opportunities in India, which is obviously a promising growth market. With this cooperation, we foresee especially many synergy benefits in the areas of procurement and development."

EKA Mobility, recognized as one of the approved commercial vehicle manufacturers under the government's Champion Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Scheme and EV component manufacturing scheme, holds an order book of more than 500 electric buses and over 5,000 electric light commercial vehicles. All these vehicles are slated to be designed and manufactured entirely in India, at EKA's proposed facilities in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.