The electric bus market is expected to witness more than 70% penetration by 2030 in multiple applications like city, intercity, staff, tarmac, and school among many other products as demand aggregation brings economies of scale in the segment, says JBM Auto, a leading electric bus maker in the country. 

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Indian electric bus market has already become the second largest in the world with an annual production capacity of 14,000-20,000 buses. In an ideal scenario, the e-bus penetration is expected to grow to about 20% in FY2026 from about 3% now. 

India is on track to become one of the world’s major EV markets by 2030, expanding at a 49% CAGR between 2021 and 2030. The Indian EV market is likely to see a total investment opportunity of more than $200 billion over the next 8-10 years as the focus towards decarbonisation gets further sharpened, S K Arya, Vice Chairman & Managing Director of Rs.3857 crore JBM Auto Ltd, said in the company’s latest annual report. 

In the past two years, India’s e-bus market has experienced rapid growth in the past couple of years, driven by demand aggregation, standardisation efforts, product advancements, and improved charging infrastructure. The government’s push to electrify fleets and the efforts of OEM players to develop integrated EV ecosystems have also been major drivers of e-bus growth in the country. Thus, the electric bus market is expected to witness high levels of penetration in the next 5-7 years, said the report. 

The growth of electric buses in India is primarily been driven by public sector (such as State Transport Undertakings) adoption with demand incentives under the FAME II scheme.  

While production capacity has ramped up in the past two years, a high degree of localisation achieved has been achieved in the segment while battery manufacturing capability is being set up in the country.  

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Meanwhile, the recent decision of the Central Government to allocate Rs. 57,613 crore for the deployment of 10,000 electric buses across 169 cities is expected to take electric bus mobility to the grassroots level pan India.  

“This is a momentous decision that sees e-mobility as a necessity for much of India and especially at a time when the country has committed to being Net Zero by 2070,” said Nishant Arya, Vice Chairman & Managing Director of JBM Auto Ltd. 

“Also, the National e-Bus Programme (NEBP) that aims to deploy 50,000 electric buses pan India and the FAME-III policy framework expected in FY24, will further really propel green public transportation and will aid the development and expansion of an EV ecosystem across the country,” he added. 

Annual deployment of electric buses in the country has grown from 526 units in FY20 to 1905 units in FY23. Volumes are likely to see exponential growth in the coming years in view of multiple procurement projects. The First NEBP tender for procuring 6,465 e-buses has already been awarded. 

In the past two years, JBM Auto and its subsidiaries have won orders for 5,000 electric buses to supply to various STUs, Fortune 500 companies and some leading corporates in the country. It earned revenue of about Rs. 550 crore from e-buses as of March 30, 2023. 

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Arya said JBM Auto has ramped up its e-bus production capacity to cater to current orders as well the future demand.  “We have more than 50% market share in the private bus segment over the last 3 years,” he added. 

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