Electric commercial vehicle maker Eka Mobility, which started production this year, is on the path to profitability within the next two years, according to its founder and CEO Sudhir Mehta.

Eka Mobility’s parent Pinnacle Mobility Solutions Pvt Ltd reported a loss of ₹32.3 crore on revenues of ₹55 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2024.

“Within the next two years, we will be on the path to profitability. We are not looking at cash burn kind of strategy,” Mehta told Fortune India in an interview.

The e-bus maker has an order book of around 3,000 buses which it plans to deliver over the next two years, said Mehta. “We see a strong order pipeline. Our two plants in Pune have started production. One is for buses and the other is for trucks,” he added.

According to data sourced from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), Pinnacle Mobility Solutions sold 15 vehicles in February.

The EV maker, which started testing its buses a year ago, plans to make 2,000 buses by next year. “We were validating and doing use cases for our products. Full-scale commercial production started this year. We are looking to make 2,000 to 2,500 buses by next year. This will double every year for the next three years,” Mehta said.

The transition to EVs is the single largest manufacturing opportunity in the country, according to Mehta. “Auto industry is about 45% of manufacturing in our country. And 30-50% of this is going to get disrupted over the next five years due to the ongoing transition to electric. That’s what we are focused on,” he said.

On competition from traditional automakers in the rapidly growing e-bus segment, Mehta said legacy doesn’t matter because the legacy of diesel is of no use for electric. “While history matters, this is a new game. It’s like somebody is playing tennis and then you say now you play badminton. Some of that knowledge is useful but it’s a new game,” he explained. “Earlier the game was all about diesel engines. Today, this game is about software and battery technologies,” Mehta said.

Eka Mobility, backed by Japan’s Mitsui & Co. and VDL Groep of the Netherlands, is targeting city bus markets across several states. It is also planning to participate in the tender process under the PM E-DRIVE (PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement) scheme.

“The market opportunity is so large that no single player has the capacity to deliver all these buses. Electrification of buses can only happen if there are multiple players in the industry,” said Mehta.

An allocation of ₹4,391 crore has been made for deployment of 14,028 e-buses under the PM E-DRIVE Scheme

Public transport in India is grossly under-served. Buses and heavy trucks constitute 4% of the vehicle fleet of the country but they contribute 50% to carbon emissions. “It’s a no-brainer as to where one has to focus. If you can change 4% of the vehicle fleet and reduce 50% of carbon emissions, it’s so obvious. 4% of these vehicles use fuel worth ₹6 lakh crore annually,” said Mehta.

The CEO of the new-age electric bus maker believes that the EV market has room for everybody. “For a foreseeable future, the market will be constrained by availability of right products rather than demand,” said Mehta.

He, however, added that the government needs to start mandating a certain percentage of fleets that need to go electric, especially in highly polluted cities such as Delhi. “I think this one measure will ensure that the shift to electric happens,” he said.

Eka Mobility also makes 1.5-tonne LCVs (light commercial vehicles) which are used for last-mile delivery. It is already working with customers like Ikea and Domino's.

The electric bus maker recently partnered with KPIT Technologies and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) to deploy a 9-meter hydrogen fuel cell bus at Cochin International Airport, Kochi.