Wheels of change are spinning all across Mumbai. Over the past six months, electric buses have been weaving in and out of Mumbai’s chock-a-block traffic, their sleek red bodies standing out starkly amid their larger — and grubbier — gas-guzzling counterparts.

In addition to being clean and comfortable, these zero-emission buses, which purr noiselessly on roads where engines typically roar, are a saving grace for the loss-making Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST). These e-buses have lowrunning cost, at a time when crude oil price are soaring: their fuel cost is just ₹8 per km, against ₹15/km for CNG buses and ₹20/km for diesel buses.

A BEST spokesperson said there are plans to deploy more such buses in Mumbai.

The first lot of electric buses was delivered in November 2017: six buses were purchased from Olectra Greentech group (formerly Goldstone Infratech), which manufactured them in collaboration with leading Chinese e-bus manufacturer BYD. A ₹10-crore initial investment was provided to BEST by its parent body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

The purchase price of each electrice bus was almost ₹1.65 crore, against ₹50-60 lakh for the diesel counterparts. But long-term savings accrue because the buses run on fire-proof lithium iron phosphate batteries, which entail no charging cost; the buses can run over 200 km on a single charge.

Olectra Greentech Executive Director N Nagasatyamsaid that since the government offers a 60 per cent subsidy under the FAME India Scheme, “the ownership cost (of e-buses) is much lower than that of traditional diesel or CNG buses.”

He expects that within two to three years, “the manufacturing and operational costs will be so competitive that there may not be any requirement of incentives from the government at all.”

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