Electric bus will make its maiden appearance in the State on June 18 with the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) carrying out trial run in Thiruvananthapuram. The trial run will be for eight days in the capital, followed by another seven days in Ernakulam till July 2.
The services will operate in various terrains, including high ranges and local conditions, during the trial runs. The buses of Gold Stone Infratech Ltd. that operate electric buses in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, and Maharashtra will be used by the KSRTC for the trial.
“The low-floor air-conditioned buses, with a seating capacity of 40, will be run on regular schedule to judge their performance and viability in local road conditions. If the trials are successful, the KSRTC can reduce the number of diesel-powered buses in the fleet and go for electric buses,” KSRTC Chairman and Managing Director, Tomin J. Thachankary said.
The KSRTC plans to procure 150 electric buses under a ‘gross contract model’ followed by the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation and Telangana State Road Transport Corporation. Subsidy is available from the Centre under Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) & Electric Vehicles (FAME) India scheme for battery electric vehicle (BEV) buses. As the vehicles will be procured under wet lease, expenses of maintenance, fuel, and driver will have to be borne by Gold Stone.
The lithium iron battery in BEV buses can run up to 350 to 475 km in one charging. For a kilometre, the electricity consumption will be 1.5 to 1.8 kwh. BEV buses are quieter than diesel buses by 17 decibels. Reduced noise pollution, air suspension for better ride comfort, disc brakes with anti-lock braking system, kneeling mechanism for the differently abled, senior citizens and pregnant woman, CCTV cameras and GPS tracking are the salient features.