Energy In Motion Opens ₹500 Crore Electric Truck Complex Near Pune

An Electric Truck Factory Built for Cost, Not Cachet

Energy In Motion has inaugurated a ₹500 crore complex for electric heavy commercial vehicles at Ambi in Talegaon, near Pune. The facility, opened on 14 October, brings three things under one roof: a vehicle assembly line, a lithium-ion battery-pack assembly unit and an independent battery-testing laboratory. It has an initial capacity of 5,000 vehicles a year per shift, and is the first phase of a planned ₹1,000 crore investment in Maharashtra.

The company, backed by the Murkumbi and J M Baxi groups, is betting that the way to electrify freight is to attack running costs rather than lead with emissions. Its pitch is the maths, not the greenery.

The Battery-Subscription Model

Under Energy In Motion's Maitryi battery-as-a-service programme, customers buy a truck without its battery and subscribe to one instead, paying for energy and swapping as they go. Managing director Narendra Murkumbi has said more than 95 percent of the company's truck sales are on this model. Stripping out the battery cuts the upfront cost by roughly 40 percent, and the company claims the higher purchase price of the vehicle itself can be recovered in about 2.3 years through lower running costs.

Detail	Figure
Investment in the complex	₹500 crore
Initial annual capacity	5,000 vehicles per shift
Battery-pack assembly	2.4 GWh a year
Jobs created	Over 2,000
Trucks sold without battery	Over 95 percent

The company has partnered with BAIC Foton for vehicles, CATL for battery technology and Shanghai Enneagon for robotic swapping. Its swapping technology is designed to change a battery in under seven minutes, a number that matters far more to a fleet operator than a fast-charge time.

The Infrastructure Bet

A subscription business only works if the network is dense enough that a truck is never far from a charged battery. Energy In Motion currently operates a handful of swap stations and plans to expand to 40 by March 2027, covering highways and major ports, with a longer-term goal of 160 megawatt-scale stations by FY30. It is also preparing to merge with the listed Ravindra Energy.

For fleet owners weighing a switch from diesel, the arithmetic is the whole argument. If running costs per kilometre fall below diesel, freight will electrify on commercial logic, and faster than cars will, because fleet buyers do the sums more ruthlessly. You can model running costs with our EV cost calculator and compare options via the comparison tool.

(Sources: ETAuto, The Hindu BusinessLine, Autocar Professional, Ravindra Energy investor presentation. Images: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

::KEY_NUMBERS:: Investment | ₹500 crore Initial capacity | 5,000 vehicles a year Battery assembly | 2.4 GWh Jobs | over 2,000 ::TLDR:: Energy In Motion opened its electric truck complex at Talegaon, Pune, on 14 October It combines vehicle assembly, battery-pack assembly and a testing laboratory Over 95 percent of its trucks are sold without a battery, via subscription It plans 160 megawatt-scale charging and swapping stations by FY30 ::GLOSSARY:: Battery-as-a-service | buying a truck without its battery and subscribing to one instead Swap station | a site where a depleted battery is exchanged for a charged one in minutes ::SOURCES:: ETAuto, The Hindu BusinessLine, Autocar Professional