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TSRTC mulls pressing electric buses in Hyderabad
As part of its commitment to check emissions from its large fleet, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) would soon introduce battery-operated “electric” buses in the city.
Hyderabad: As part of its commitment to check emissions from its large fleet, the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) would soon introduce battery-operated “electric” buses in the city.
According to a senior official in the Corporation, these electric buses would be operational in the city from June next year if all goes well.
To promote electric vehicles for controlling pollution, Union Industries Ministry had started a ‘FAME’ (Faster Adoption and Manufacture of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) scheme and allocated about Rs 800 crore for 2015-16 and 2016-17. About Rs 500 crore would be given to manufacturers and the purchasers as an incentive. With this, each bus purchaser would get a subsidy of Rs 34 lakh to Rs 66 lakh.
“The Corporation wants to take advantage of the scheme and see whether these can be introduced on a large scale. These would be first taken up as a pilot project in Hyderabad and later expanded to other places based on the success,” said the senior official.
Earlier, the Corporation’s efforts to run CNG buses hit a roadblock because of non-availability of gas. The official said that the Corporation needed at least 10,000 kg of CNG from BGCL (Bhagyanagar Gas Corporation Limited), which comes to about 80 kg a bus per day. Earlier, they were able to supply about 4,000 kg per day but now gas was not coming on the expected lines, the official said.
According to the official, it would cost Rs 38 per km for the Corporation to run the bus and the revenue per km was Rs 33, resulting in a loss of Rs 5 per km. The mechanical team estimates that the cost for charging would be Re 1 per km for these electric buses.
Recently, a team of officials from the Corporation and Transport Department visited New Delhi to study the electric buses. The officials would soon submit a report on this to the government.
The Corporation wants to introduce at least two electric buses in the city at a cost of Rs 1.7 crore and avail of a central subsidy of Rs 50 lakh. Based on the performance of these buses, the Corporation would extend the services to main towns such as Warangal, Hanamkonda, Karimnagar and Nizamabad.
