The ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) is close to finalising the bidders for supply of 3,600 electric buses under the PM e-bus Sewa Scheme. “We are doing the final evaluation, and the decision will be taken in a day or two. The idea is to give the contract before the model code of conduct kicks in,” said a source at MoHUA.
Though the tender value is not known, it could be in the Rs 7,000-7,500 crore range, given the average price of a low-entry electric bus is around Rs 2 crore. The big players in the e-bus space includes Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Olectra Greentech, and JBM Group.
Last November, state-woned Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL) had invited bids to procure 3,600 electric buses. The tender entailed operation, maintenance, and development of allied electric and civil infrastructure for these buses. The government is expecting to get these buses at attractive rates due to bulk procurement. “The tender was combined but the entities have submitted their bids state-wise,” said the source.
Launched in 2023, the scheme has an estimated cost of Rs 57,613 crore, a part of which – Rs 20,000 crore – will be funded by the central government over 10 years. The scheme includes purchase of 10,000 buses across 169 cities under the public private partnership model. The cities will be responsible for running the bus services and make payments to the operators. It’s estimated that 45,000-55,000 direct jobs will be generated under the scheme.
PM eBus Sewa is part of a larger plan of the government to revamp the public transportation infrastructure in the country through the roll out of electric buses. At present, schemes like FAME India Scheme (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicle) Phase I and Phase II, National Electric Bus Programme (NEBP), and PM E-bus Sewa are being implemented.
The penetration of e-buses in India is quite low with only around 4,000 of them operating at the moment. Under NEBP, the aim is to deploy over 50,000 buses across the country by 2027.
A December 2023 report by ratings agency CRISIL said that the share of e-buses in the new bus sales is set to double to 8% in FY25 from around 4% in FY23 primarily because of the government’s focus on decarbonising the public transport sector, and low cost of ownership of an e-bus as compared to ICE (internal combustion engine) and CNG buses.