PMI Electro Mobility races ahead in e-buses

It has been a remarkable journey for PMI Electro Mobility Solutions where the makeover from a coachbuilder to a leading player in electric buses has been achieved in record time. Murali Gopalan travelled to Dharuhera in Haryana to see the ground-level realities while speaking to the key people involved in this turnaround story that will now see a deepening of the relationship with Beiqi Foton of China.

- Murali Gopalan

Satish Kumar Jain remembers the day only too well.

"This was 2005 and there were thousands of Tata CNG buses at India Gate. The first thing that crossed my mind was....why can't we do something like this on our own?" recalls the Managing Director of PMI Electro Mobility Solutions.

Today, his company has emerged the lead player in the electric bus segment. According to Vahan data for 2021-22 on electric bus registrations, PMI Electro Mobility has 397 units to its name followed by Tata Motors, Olectra Greentech, JBM Auto and Ashok Leyland.

The company is now gearing up to begin a critical second growth phase with Beiqi Foton Motor of China which will see electric commercial vehicles roll out of a new plant at Chakan near Pune in early 2024.

By all indicators, PMI Electro Mobility is on a roll but it is not as if the journey has been a cakewalk, On the contrary, it has been fraught with challenges even while Jain goes back to that day at India Gate when these buses were ready to join the Delhi Transport Corporation Fleet.

PMI then built bus coaches for various OEMs - something that it continues to do today- and has since emerged as a bus maker too, albeit in the electric space. He is candid enough to admit that government policies on electric mobility have been a huge booster for companies like PMI Electro Mobility...else "these big boys" would not have allowed it to enter the market.

"There was no cash to burn at my end and this move into the electric space has given a massive boost to us. Finance was a challenge and it was a tough journey...we are now stabilising," says Jain. The company rolls out its electric buses from a plant in Dharuhera, Haryana, and the monthly numbers are around 300 units.