India: Uttar Pradesh to procure 120 electric buses for public transport

The state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) in India’s northern region, plans to expand its EV fleet with 120 electric buses. Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC), its state and interstate bus service provider, will operate the new electric buses.

Image: Unsplash/Milin John

According to a Hindustan Times report, UPSRTC plans to deploy 20 of the 120 new electric buses in Lucknow, the state capital, and 20 in Ayodhya, a popular pilgrimage and tourist destination. It will allocate 20 units to Gorakhpur as well and split the remaining 60 evenly between two more key locations – Aligarh and Moradabad. A government spokesperson said that UP soon expects to start the tendering process for the new electric buses.

UP is the most populated state in India and shares a border with New Delhi, the national capital. UP’s Directorate of Urban Transport says that 740 electric buses in total are operating in the state, all with a floor height of 900 mm. It uses most of the buses, specifically 140 units, in the state capital Lucknow.

UP acquired 40 electric buses under the first phase of the FAME India Scheme (1 April 2015 – 31 March 2019) and deployed the whole batch in Lucknow. Later, it added 600 units under the second phase of the incentive (1 April 2019 – 31 March 2024). It recently approved 100 more electric buses, and now with the upcoming 120 units, the UPSRTC EV fleet will grow to 860 units.

The Indian government replaced the FAME India scheme with the PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) scheme on 1 October 2024. The PM E-DRIVE scheme provides an outlay of close to 44 billion rupees (approximately 478 million euros) for electric buses. The Indian government envisages State Transport Units/public transport agencies will roll out 14,028 electric buses under the new scheme. It will offer an incentive of 10,000 Indian rupees (109 euros) per kWh on electric buses that cost less than 20 million Indian rupees (approximately 200,000 euros) ex-factory.

x.com, hindustantimes.com, invest.up.gov.in (Page 3), uputd.gov.in

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