Why it’s tough to run electric buses in our cities

NEW DELHI: While India is witnessing a growing interest in shifting to electric mobility, especially buses, experts feel that supporting infrastructure will have to keep pace with the growth in the number of such vehicles in the coming years.
One of the reasons behind the growing interest is the Centre’s initiatives to incentivise electric mobility. Under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme, the Centre subsidises 60% of the total cost of an electric bus, and has already sanctioned 390 buses in 11 cities.



Experts at a three-day ‘Connect Karo’ conclave organised by World Resources Institute, India, however, said that with each bus costing Rs 1.7 crore to 2.5 crore, the capital cost of inducting these vehicles in a city’s public transport fleet was very high despite the subsidies. The conclave discussed the issue of strategising electric bus operations in Indian cities.



WRI India Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, with support from FedEx Express, on Thursday announced ‘Better Bus Challenge’, a competition to augment the quality, safety and efficiency of public bus systems in India by bringing together ideas from manufacturers, technology and service providers, mobility entrepreneurs, NGOs, corporations, and transit agencies.



Experts said that in cities such as Mumbai and Delhi, the ridership in public buses had declined and if electric-run buses, with better features and more comfort, were introduced, it might bring people back from private vehicles.



Victor Nagaonkar, an officer on special duty to Brihanmumbai Electric Supply & Transport Undertaking (BEST), said that in Mumbai, the growing number of taxis had led to the shift from public buses. “There is a capacity constraint in Delhi. There have been efforts earlier but there has been no focus on building transport capacity,” said M Ramshekhar, CEO, Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System.



While Delhi is facing an acute shortage of public buses, the AAP government recently announced its plan to induct 1,000 electric buses. However, there’s hardly any supporting infrastructure. “A whole electric mobility eco-system is required,” said Saurabh Rohilla, deputy director, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. Specific routes should be decided first and infrastructure should be developed before introducing electric buses only on these routes, he added.

Urban transport specialist Prashanth Bachu said the growing interest in electric buses shouldn’t distract the authorities from the primary need of getting more buses. “Dedicated bus lanes in cities can have charging infrastructure for electric buses.”

Other experts said charging infrastructure along roads could also be planned to make so that buses could operate for a longer period and didn’t waste time for recharging at depots. Some others felt that power could also be provided through pantographs, like the metro, so that buses get it while operating.

Prasanna Patwardhan, president of Bus Operators Confederation of India, said the country also needed trained manpower to maintain this fleet.

H K Gupta, chief general manager of Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation that recently inducted 25 electric buses, said that though it had provided for charging infrastructure, there was high dependency on third parties for technical know-how.