The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has started trial runs for electric-bus for the second time after a gap of over six years. A Hyderabad-based company has provided a 12 meter long AC e-bus for the trial run.
Deputy Chief Minister and Transport Minister Laxman Savadi boarded the bus from BMTC’s TTMC at Shantinagar and travelled till Vidhana Soudha. He was accompanied by the chairman of the BMTC and others. At Vidhana Soudha, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa inspected the bus.
The officials had earlier said that trial runs will be carried out using sand bags and passengers will not be allowed to travel for 15 days.
The Corporation has maintained that during the trial run, performance of the bus will be assessed in terms of battery charging, carrying capacity, performance of bus in heavy traffic roads and others. The bus will be operated on ten roads in the city that include Kadugodi, ORR, Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) and others. The bus can run 200 to 250 km in single recharge and seating arrangement is 34+1.
In the year 2014, the BMTC had done a trial run of e-bus for the first time by operating a bus provided by a Chin-based company.
The state government has directed the Corporation to prepare an action plan for leasing 300 e-buses under FAME-II scheme (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles in India) of the central government. The Department of Heavy Industries (DHI) of the Union Government is providing a subsidy of ₹ 55 lakh per bus and ₹ 33.33 lakh per bus will be provided by the state government.
However, the state government has asked the BMTC not to incur any expenditure in the current year. The DHI recently directed the BMTC to issue supply orders by December 31, 2020. In the last couple of years, the BMTC made several attempts to lease E-buses but miserably failed. The Corporation is likely to issue fresh tenders in coming days.
