100 new electric buses to be inducted by May-end in Delhi

Delhi government has received six new air-conditioned low-floor electric buses as prototypes for week-long testing, and it aims to add a fresh batch of 100 electric buses to the Capital’s fleet next month, officials in the know of the matter said Friday. “The six buses will be tested in real-life conditions for a week and their performance will be evaluated. If the performance is satisfactory, we will give the manufacturer the go-ahead to supply us with the buses. Around 100 buses are likely to be added to the fleet in May and then onwards batches of 250 buses will be added,” said transport commissioner Ashish Kundra.

The 100 buses will be part of the first batch of 1,500 buses, which the government wants to add to the public fleet by the year-end. The Delhi government in December last year signed an agreement with a Tata Motors subsidiary for adding 1,500 electric buses to Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC)’s fleet in one go.

“Currently Delhi has 300 electric buses in operation. The addition of the electric buses is aimed at decarbonising the public bus transport system in the Capital,” Kundra said.

Another transport department official said the bus prototypes have been registered and will run on different routes for a week. “These buses will run in peak hours to check their performance with full load. They will run on routes in central Delhi as well as outer Delhi so that a 360 degree evaluation of their performance can be done,” said the official, asking not to be named.

He said that the prototypes are generally approved.

Delhi government is added electric buses as part of efforts to promote noise and pollution-free transportation. In 2021, the Delhi government decided to only procure electric buses. The government is pushing for the induction of the electric buses as Delhi hosts the intergovernmental forum G-20’s meetings this year. India assumed the forum’s presidency in December last year.

The buses have more space as compared to the existing e-buses, they are disabled-friendly and have features such as GPS, panic button, CCTV cameras, live tracking, and seats reserved for women, said a third official.

Delhi government seeks to increase the strength of its bus fleet to 11,000 and to ensure that 80% of all public buses are electric by 2025-26 as part of plans to cut down pollution levels.

Vehicular emissions contributed around 9% of the PM10 load and around 20% of the PM2.5 load in Delhi, according to a 2016 Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur study. When inhaled, particulate matter or PM can cause serious health problems.

Transport minister Kailash Gahlot said: “The plan to induct 1500 electric buses in the capital by the end of the year is progressing smoothly. After the first batch of 100 buses arrive this month, other batches of the buses will arrive quick successions.”