The creation of a fleet of 1,000 electric buses as proposed by the Delhi government is on track and expected to materialise beginning mid-2019, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said on Tuesday.
Mr. Gahlot, who recently came back from a five-day study tour of China’s public transport system — comprising mainly of e-buses and supporting infrastructure, said the government was also mulling the development of multilevel depots with charging facilities for its e-fleet, akin to China.
Feasibility report
A feasibility report related to the project is being prepared by Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) Ltd., which was appointed as the consultant to look into the issue in July.
Mr. Gahlot said that the report was expected “any day”, following which the government would be in a position to float tenders for the procurement of these vehicles.
“The report [by DIMTS] is expected any time now. Based on the recommendations, the government will float a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the procurement of e-buses,” Mr. Gahlot said.
“We have already looked at many possible vendors assembling such vehicles both in Delhi and other cities. Once the Request for Proposal is floated, the procurement will take around three months, ensuring that these vehicles hit the street by the middle of next year,” the Minister said.
During his study tour, Mr. Gahlot visited Beijing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
Government sources said that multilevel depots with charging facilities would increase parking capacity by an estimated 1.5 times.
The government has decided to equip bus depots at six locations — East Vinod Nagar, Bawana Sector 5, Burari, Rohini Sector 37, Revla Khanpur and Narela — with charging infrastructure for the proposed 1,000 electric buses.
Mini charging points
Government sources said there are also proposals to create mini charging points to accommodate around 20 buses at relatively smaller bus depots.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, at a stakeholders’ consultation on the proposed draft electric vehicles policy for Delhi, said greater usage of public transport facilities would be a “major step” towards curbing air pollution.
“Greater usage of public transport will be a major step towards curbing air pollution... once these 1,000 e-buses arrive, and if they turn out to be technologically and economically viable, in future, we will only buy e-buses,” the Chief Minister said.
Mr. Kejriwal said that the scale at which electric buses were being planned to be introduced in the Capital, was a “first for any city in the country”.
