The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited recently acquired 150 e-buses and is in the process of acquiring more.

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) will start plying electric buses to Solapur, Kolhapur, Nashik and Aurangabad from Pune in three months, officials said. A total of 50 buses will operate on these four routes after charging stations are installed in these five cities.

E-buses will be introduced by reducing the frequency of Shiv Shahi buses as the features of the two services — luxury and air-conditioned — are similar, officials said.

Last year, the MSRTC issued a tender and awarded the contract to a private party to supply e-buses. The state transport body said that these buses will operate within a radius of 250 km. The MSRTC owns at least 20,000 diesel buses today.

The Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited recently acquired 150 e-buses and is in the process of acquiring more.

According to officials, a trial run of the e-buses that the MSRTC is planning to induct was conducted between Mumbai and Pune in December 2019. The Central Institute of Road Transport has also given a green signal to the technical specification of the buses, officials said. Once fully charged, each bus can cover a distance of 300 km, officials said.