The 12-metre, low-floor prototype e-bus runs on 96A route (Majestic to Majestic via Malleswaram).
DH PHOTO/S K DINESH
Bengaluru: The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will induct 100 electric buses on Tuesday as it sets out on an ambitious plan to expand its fleet running on green energy.
The 100 electric buses are being inducted in the first batch of 921 buses that the BMTC is inducting under the union government’s Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME-II) scheme.
TML Smart Mobility Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Motors Ltd, will lease these 12-metre-long, low-floor buses on a per-km basis under a 12-year contract.
These electric buses will have a higher range — 200 km per charge, making it easier for the BMTC to plan the services, according to the corporation’s Chief Traffic Manager (Operations) G T Prabhakar Reddi.
“Once charged, most of the buses will ply on their designated route and return to the depot,” he told DH.
In other words, these buses do not have to be charged during the day.
This will be in contrast with the 390 existing electric buses that the BMTC has leased from Switch Mobility Pvt Ltd and JBM Auto. These buses run only up to 140 km per charge, meaning they have to be recharged for the BMTC to fully utilise the 225 km/day stipulated in the lease agreement. The corporation has deployed them only on 4-5 routes.
The 921 e-buses will be allotted to the BMTC’s eight depots, including Shanthinagar and KR Puram.
The 100 buses will run across the city, including the CBD, Chandapura and Electronics City, another official said.
The BMTC will get 100 more in January and the rest in the next six months.