E-buses: Chandigarh saves on diesel worth Rs 17 crore in two years

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 18

With the launch of electric buses in the city, the UT Transport Department has saved nearly 20.38 lakh litres of diesel worth Rs 17.17 crore in two years. Procured in November 2021, as many as 80 electric buses ply on city roads at present. More than 1.51 crore passengers have travelled by these buses in the past more than 26 months.

100 more vehicles to be procured this year

The Transport Department plans to procure 100 more electric buses this year. It will give a fillip to the administration’s plan of replacing the entire fleet of 350 diesel buses of the CTU with electric ones by 2027-28.

Each bus covers 300 km a day

A bus covers a distance of nearly 130 km on a single charge. It takes nearly two hours to fully charge a vehicle. Each bus has a seating capacity of 36 and can carry a maximum of 54 people at a time. On an average, each of these buses covers 200 km to 300 km a day.

Incentives for EVs

So far, 2,881 people have been given an incentive of Rs 17.77 crore for buying EVs in Chandigarh. The city has the largest public bike sharing system in the country with 10 lakh rides covering an area of 41 lakh km, cutting more than 1,010 tonne of carbon emission.

UT Transport Director Pradhuman Singh says the electric buses have so far covered 1.01 crore km on intra-city routes, thus saving over 20.38 lakh litres of diesel. The electric buses have also helped prevent 5380.42 tonne of CO2 emission.

He e-buses fleet include vehicles of Ashok Leyland and Eicher. In order to provide eco-friendly and green transportation in the city, the Transport Department plans to procure 100 more electric buses this year.

The procurement will give a fillip to the administration’s plan of replacing the entire fleet of 350 diesel buses of the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU), running both local as well as suburban routes, with electric ones by 2027-28.

A bus covers a distance of nearly 130 km on a single charge. It takes nearly two hours to fully charge a vehicle. Each bus has a seating capacity of 36 and can carry a maximum of 54 people at a time. On an average, each of these buses covers 200 km to 300 km a day.

The State-Level Steering Committee (SLSC) has decided to replace 100 diesel buses with e-buses sanctioned by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to Chandigarh under the Centre-sponsored “PM e-Bus Sewa Scheme.

It was decided that the ministry will again be requested to allocate 70 more buses to the city under this scheme.

Apart from public transport, the share of private electric vehicles (EVs) is also increasing. In the past 10-12 months, the number of such vehicles registered in Chandigarh has been 18-10 on an average every day. Not only two-wheelers but people are also buying four-wheelers. This also shows that from September 2023 to January 2024, the city has been ahead in terms of EV adoption across the country. In this, 578 EVs were registered in September 2023 and the adoption rate was 14.9%. Similarly, with 598 new EVs, adoption rate was 14.1% in October, 13.9% in November and 20.48% in December. In January 2024, 562 EVs were sold and the adoption rate remained 15.66%.

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