India To Introduce 1,000 Electric Buses Into Public Transportation Network

While India is known for a vast number of things, from the culture to it being the software capital of the world. One of the things it is known for, that the country is not particularly proud of, is that the air pollution rate in the country is at the top of the world. According to the World Health Organisation, cities in India composed of 9 out of 10 of the world’s most polluted cities.

Delhi government is coming back around to fix this reputation. The plan begins with the incorporation of 1,000 electric buses into the city’s transportation network. Global tenders have been floated for 375 electric buses as part of the government’s plan to curb pollution.

This is the first part of the more ambitious plan of changing every public vehicle in the area’s transportation network into using electricity. The official plan to bring 1,000 low-floor e-buses into service was announced on February. The buses will be rolled out in phases starting June to July of 2019.

There is no doubt that the city is very serious about overhauling one of its worst carbon producer being the public transports it operates. To support this operation, the city has committed Rs 100 crore ($14.4 million) to the State Electric Vehicle Fund in the budget of 2019 to 2020. The final goal of this project is to hold 25% of the total share of vehicles operated by battery by 2024.

Kailash Gahlot - State Transport Minister announced on Twitter the release of the tenders for the electric buses. The price of the Request for Qualifications and Proposals (RFQP) document is in total Rs 75,000 (And an approximate 18% accounting for CST). The pre-bid meeting is scheduled for March 22, 2019.

This is a drastic move forward for the country. Especially after it has announced the beginning of the second phase of its FAME programme, which the government offers to electric vehicle makers in the country and electric vehicle buyers in the country incentives. Ultimately, it hopes that the programme and efforts will be able to propel the transition from traditional vehicles forward to electric in the near future.