Tata Motors to provide Delhi with 1,500 electric buses
The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has awarded a contract for 1,500 electric buses to Tata Motors through a tender process. The operator’s largest electric bus order to date covers the supply, operation and maintenance of the vehicles.
The DTC contract came under the umbrella of a larger, nationwide tender by Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL). Earlier this year, CESL launched a larger tender for over 5,000 electric buses targeting Dehli, Kolkata, Surat, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
According to Tata Motors, the vehicles now ordered are all-electric low-floor buses with a length of twelve metres. India’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer only says of the vehicles that they will have air conditioning and “offer state-of-the-art technology for sustainable, environmentally friendly and economical public transport”. The maintenance and service contract will run for twelve years.
The model is likely to be the Tata Starbus EV that Tata Motors introduced in 2020. This model offers space for 35 passengers and has air suspension at the front and rear. The electric motor has an output of 245 kW. The battery pack is supposed to come to “around 250 kWh”, but is also supposed to be “scalable according to range requirements”. Neither the public transport company, nor Tata Motors have so far revealed what these range requirements are, where and how the buses will be operated, or what kind of charging infrastructure will be used.
“The induction of the environment-friendly buses will help largely in reducing air pollution and benefit millions of Delhi citizens,” says Neeraj Semwal of the Delhi Transport Corporation. Rohit Srivastava, Vice President, Bus Product Line, Tata, adds, “The delivery of these buses will further fortify our partnership with DTC and help in environment-friendly mass mobility for the city of Delhi. We are committed towards modernising public transportation in India and keep sustainability at the core in the designing of futuristic vehicles.”
Tata Motors say they have 650 electric buses on Indian roads. This order will therefore amount to more than twice as many electric buses as the company has ever made. According to the data service Statista, the registered number of buses in Delhi in 2020 amounted to over 33 thousand. In January of this year, DTC introduced its first electric bus with the promise of 300 more manufactured by JBM Auto Limited.
0 Comments