Two of the 10 long-distance AC electric buses launched by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Monday ran out of charge, at Cherthala and at Vyttila in Ernakulam, on their maiden service between Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam.
The stranded passengers were taken to their destinations in other buses. Senior KSRTC officials blamed it on the technical wing’s ineptitude in readying charging points at Haripad and Ernakulam. Interestingly, the points were readied by Monday evening, leaving everyone guessing why they were not kept ready at least a day earlier.
The buses can operate up to 250 km after being charged for three-and-a-half hours. The officials concerned should have readied the two charging points en route or arranged to swap batteries with fully-charged ones. They should also have kept in mind that traffic snarls at towns en route and at bottlenecked Alappuzha on Monday would further drain the batteries. “The electric buses that were introduced to drive home the point of curtailing operational expenses and causing zero emission ended up making a further dent in our image,” said KSRTC officials.
Another senior official said the two buses ran out of charge probably since they were manned by new drivers who were not well versed with electric buses. The other eight buses operated as per schedule and reached the charging point at Aluva from Thiruvananthapuram, without any snag. From Tuesday, all buses will take a 15-minute tea break at Cherthala, during which time they will be recharged.
Elaborating on the cost savings and environmental benefits of electric buses over diesel buses, KSRTC sources said the per km cost works to approximately ₹49 per km. This covers the cost of each bus, maintenance expenses and salary of the driver provided by the private firm that has supplied the buses. The KSRTC has to provide electricity and services of the conductor.
In comparison, the cost of operating a diesel AC bus owned by KSRTC is over ₹70 per km. Unlike AC diesel buses with rear engine, electric buses are very silent, they added.