Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) has announced the lowest ever prices discovered for 5,450 electric buses across five cities.
The lowest price discovered for a 12-meter bus is Rs 43.49 per km, and a 9-metre bus is Rs 39.21 per km. This includes the cost of electricity for charging of the buses. The Grand Challenge tender comprised of demand for 5,450 buses across Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Surat.The value of the tender is over Rs 50 billion. The buses are expected to operate around 4.71 billion km over twelve years saving 1.88 billion liters of fossil fuel. This will result in 3.31 million tonnes of CO2e from tailpipe emissions, a major step towards mitigating climate change. Prices realised have set a benchmark for public transport, as it may encourage even the smaller cities to adopt electric vehicles. Buseswill benefit from the central government subsidy offered under the remodeled Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME II) scheme administered by the Ministry of Heavy Industries.With the discovery of lowest ever prices under the tender savingsof Rs 3.61billion of subsidy can be realised, which in turn may be utilised for additional buses.