| Work Detail |
Highlights :
Aims to deploy 5450 single decker electric buses under the scheme
Eligible for incentives under FAME II
States may wish to include top-up subsidies
Tender value is estimated to be 5500 crores
Giving a big thrust to the adoption of electric buses for public transport in the country, Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), today announced the floating of a request for proposals for the biggest ever demand for electric buses, under the ‘Grand Challenge’ – a set of homogenized demand for electric buses aggregated across five major cities.
Spearheading the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative and as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the scheme includes completely 100 percent electric buses and aims to reduce the operating costs for cities, removing bottlenecks of procuring e-buses by State Transport Undertakings (STUs), instituting best in class practices, and operating standards and enabling operational and passenger efficiencies by evolving into a platform for modernization of city bus.
The cities to be covered under this “Grand Challenge” are Bangalore, Delhi, Surat, Hyderabad, and Kolkata in the first phase. The first lot of e-buses are expected to hit the roads by July this year.
Through this Grand Challenge, CESL aims to deploy 5450 single decker buses and 130 double decker buses. CESL intends to enhance its support to state governments in achieving their electric mobility targets as well as further build an infrastructure for electric mobility in the country. This is seen as a big step in the series of initiatives to fulfill the commitments made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making India a Net Zero nation by 2050 and getting closer to achieving Energy Independence by 2047.
The benefits of participating in the Grand Challenge include lower prices realized due to aggregated demand, high quality benchmarked technology, access to FAME-II incentives, access to state incentives, air quality improvement, and access to domestic and international sources of finances. Keeping in mind the changing environment where climate change related issues and energy independence have turned the focus on EVs, CESL will later be expanding support to more cities.
Sharing her views about the Grand Challenge, Mahua Acharya, MD & CEO, CESL said ‘The real meaning of aggregation across cities under an OPEX model is actually homogenization. This Grand Challenge Tender represents efforts by so many people – STUs, OEMs, financiers, Niti Aayog, DHI and ofcourse my colleagues. This is the biggest ever scheme in the world – and is based on an innovative, asset-light model that make it possible for STUs to deploy affordably and at scale.’’ |
