Bengaluru: The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is in the process of purchasing electric buses, and it will receive a financial assistance of up to Rs 85 lakh for each bus from the central government.
BMTC Managing Director Ponnuraj said, "The tender documents are being finalised and the process is expected to be completed by November-end or first week of December. Then, the next step will be decided. The electric buses will be purchased three to four months from the date of the order. But these processes will take some time."
A senior BMTC officer said that the fund support for e-buses was sought from the central government under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme of the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020. "We have learnt that the central government has agreed to pay Rs 85 lakh for each bus. If we are able to use around 35 per cent of spare parts in the bus, manufactured in India, then we will get an additional Rs 15 lakh, which will be a total of Rs 1 crore. This is a good option and will help reduce the burden of financial constraints. For now, we are aiming to purchase 150 e-buses."
The officer said that the battery of the bus is a big challenge, as the bus needs to travel at least 150 km per day. “The higher the battery capacity, the costlier the bus becomes. If we get '1 crore from the Centre, the remaining money can be pooled in by the BMTC. The cost of each e-bus is around '2-2.5 crore. We still have to see how things will work out," he said.
"E-buses are needed because of high pollution levels in the city. After seeing what happened in Delhi, we don't want a similar situation in Bengaluru. It is time we start thinking about ways to cut down pollution. The current fleet of BMTC buses contributes to air pollution as it runs on diesel. If all the BMTC buses are replaced by e-buses, around 30 tonnes of carbon dioxide can be cut down every year," said another senior officer from BMTC.
