January 20 State-owned Convergence Energy Services (CESL) said on Thursday that it had floated a tender for procuring 5,580 electric buses, deployed across five major cities. The first tranche is expected to be deployed by July this year. The e-buses would also be rolled out in other cities in the future. The proposal floated on Thursday is the biggest ever demand for electric buses, under the ‘Grand Challenge’. It is a homogenised demand for electric buses aggregated across five major cities. The cities to be covered are Bangalore, Delhi, Surat, Hyderabad, and Kolkata. CESL, a subsidiary of state-run Energy Efficiency Services (EESL), said. “Through this Grand Challenge, CESL aims to deploy 5,450 single-decker buses and 130 double-decker buses. CESL intends to enhance its support to state governments in achieving their electric mobility targets as well as further build an infrastructure for electric mobility in the country,” the green energy solutions provider added.

Energy independence

This is seen as a big step in the series of initiatives to fulfil the commitments made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making India a Net Zero nation by 2070 and getting closer to achieving energy independence by 2047, CESL noted. The scheme includes 100 per cent electric buses. It aims to reduce operating costs for cities, remove bottlenecks of procuring e-buses by State Transport Undertakings (STUs), institute best in class practices, and operating standards, and enable operational and passenger efficiencies by evolving into a platform for the modernisation of city buses.

Grand Challenge tender

“This Grand Challenge tender represents efforts by so many people – STUs, OEMs, financiers, Niti Aayog, DHI and of course my colleagues. This is the biggest ever scheme in the world – and is based on an innovative, asset-light model that make it possible for STUs to deploy affordably and at scale.,” CESL MD & CEO Mahua Acharya said. The benefits of participating in the ‘Grand Challenge’ include lower prices realised due to aggregate demand, high quality benchmarked technology, access to FAME-II incentives, access to state incentives, air quality improvement, and access to domestic and international sources of finances. “Keeping in mind the changing environment where climate change-related issues and energy independence have turned the focus on EVs, CESL will later be expanding support to more cities,” the company said.

Transforming public transport

Welcoming the scheme, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said “Standardising tendering conditions in diverse cities is a big step towards the transformation of public transport in India. Participation in the Grand Challenge is a commendable effort from STUs, who I am sure will stand to gain from economies of scale through the aggregation of demand by CESL.” Delhi’s Transport and Environment Minister Kailash Gehlot Kailash Gahlot commended the efforts by CESL for standardising the terms and conditions for how the buses are delivered. “I am pleased to announce today that Delhi has requested 1,500 buses under the Grand Challenge and stands ready to offer state subsidies where they are required. We are aggressively pursuing electric mobility,” he added. “The Grand Challenge will certainly encourage a faster transition to green mobility across the country while creating a synergy between private operators and state governments. We are optimistic that this Grand Challenge will further provide a push to our goal to attain transformation to EVs from fossil fuels in the coming years throughout the country and the world,” Acharya emphasised.

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