Delhi expands electric bus fleet to nearly 2,000 units
The buses are provided by manufacturer Tata Motors and offer 225 kilometres of range. They will go into operation on several different routes: 114 will leave from the Sukhdev Vihar Depot, 150 from the Kalkaji Depot, and 120 from the Naraina Depot. The Delhi government first announced that it would procure the additional buses in February.
However, the electric buses, 1,970 of them to be exact, still only make up a small portion of the 7,683 servicing Delhi. But Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena emphasised that these would not be the last electric units to join the fleet. “Almost 320 buses are being launched, and they will provide relief to the public of Delhi. We are planning to add more buses. To bring down the pollution level in Delhi, public transport has to be increased, and this is a step in that direction,” said Saxena.
“By 2025, Delhi aims to have a total of 10,480 buses, with 80% (8,280 buses) being electric, saving 467,000 tonnes of CO2 annually,” Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot added.
There are also nationwide plans to increase the number of electric buses. In January the Economic Times reported that the country plans to replace 800,000 diesel buses with electric buses over the next seven years. The plan includes 200,000 electric buses for state transport companies, 550,000 for private operators and 50,000 school buses and shuttles by 2030.
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