A tender for the procurement of electric buses is in its final stages and will be presented before the Delhi Cabinet for approval “very soon”, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said on Thursday after flagging off the trial run of another battery-operated standard-size bus here.
The low-floor e-bus flagged off for trial will ply between Anand Vihar and Mehrauli for three months. This is the third trial of e-buses of three different companies in the last two months.
After the trial run, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said his government is concerned about the health of Delhiites and is doing everything to reduce pollution in the Capital.
“We r v concerned abt the health of our people. We r doing everything possible within our control to reduce pollution in Delhi. I hv seen many conscious Delhiites doing their bit too. All of us together can make it happen [sic],” Mr. Kejriwal tweeted.
Mr. Gahlot said the Transport Department is “fully prepared” to implement the odd-even road rationing scheme, whenever the need arises in view of deteriorated air quality in the city.
The Delhi government is moving ahead with procuring e-buses to combat high levels of air pollution in the city. “The tender for e-buses is in the final stage. It will be presented before the cabinet very soon and floated after its approval,” Mr. Gahlot told reporters here.
The e-bus, manufactured by Olectra, has a seating capacity of 35 people and can run for 250 km on a single charge. “On a single charge, the bus is claimed to run 250 km. The trials are aimed to check claims of the company. The routes in Delhi covered by public transport buses is on average around 220 km,” Mr. Gahlot said.
In previous trials, it was observed that charging of e-bus of another company took a little longer time, he added.
