25 electric buses to hit Puducherry roads in three months

Puducherry govt issues LoI to private firm to supply, operate & maintain 25 electric buses & allied infrastructure. Prototype to be supplied in 45 days. Govt sanctioned ₹23 crores for procurement of buses. Buses to ply on 15 routes & operated under viability gap funding model. Charging stations & maintenance costs to be borne by operator. Escrow account to be created for revenue generated. Buses have life of 6-7 years & cover 200 km in one charge. 2 locations identified for charging infrastructure. Unified tender sent to all States for procurement of 25 electric buses.

The Puducherry Transport Department has issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) to a private firm to supply, operate and maintain 25 electric buses and establish allied infrastructure, including charging stations, in the city.

The letter was issued after a tendering process, and final approval from the government,

Official sources said the private firm had also issued a Letter of Acceptance (LoA) and an agreement would be executed within 15 days.

This company already operates electric buses in various cities and the prototype of the first electric bus is expected to be supplied in 45 days. The State Transport Department will check whether the prototype meets all requirements and technical specifications, following which the Puducherry government is expected to give its nod to its ambitious plan to switch to green mobility in the Union Territory.

According to a Transport Department official, “The electric buses are expected to hit the roads in the next 3 months. The buses will arrive in batches and will have a separate colour scheme. The 25 buses (10 AC and 15 Non-AC) will be 9-metre buses. In June, the UT administration tested the Proof of Concept ( POC) of an electric bus from the selected private firm. A weight of 1,750 kg was put on the buses and based on the report of an inspection team, a decision was taken to issue the LoI to initiate the purchase of the buses.”

The government has sanctioned ₹23 crores as initial the seed funding under the Smart City project in the first phase for the procurement of the buses, which will ply on 15 tentative routes within urban areas. The buses will be operated under a viability gap funding model.”

The official added that the operator will establish charging stations and allied infrastructure with annual fleet-level guaranteed operations of 200 km per day per bus, for a period of 12 years. The operator is to foot the electricity cost and all maintenance costs of the buses.