Mumbai to deploy 8,000 electric buses by 2027
According to a recent report from the Press Trust of India, Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), a public sector undertaking that manages Mumbai’s bus fleet, plans to convert more than 50% of the line-up to electric by March 2026. By March 2027, BEST aims to make Mumbai’s entire city bus fleet electric.
BEST has placed an order for 2,650 single-decker electric buses and plans to purchase 273 big and 237 mid-size AC single-decker electric buses as well, the report said. It did not clarify whether these electric buses are in addition to or include the 2,100 units BEST ordered in May 2022 and/or the 2,400 units the company ordered in February 2024, both from Olectra Greentech.
BEST also operates double-decker buses, a long-standing iconic feature of Mumbai’s public transport system. It has retired all the fossil fuel-powered double-decker buses and deployed 50 electric ones so far. Moving forward, it plans to commission 1,200 more double-decker electric buses.
The Press Trust of India report did not specify the total size of BEST’s electric bus fleet, but The Times of India stated in a recent article that the company has 711 zero-emission units.
According to an earlier Hindustan Times report, Olectra Greentech fell behind schedule for the order of 2,100 electric buses, delivering only 160 units close to the deadline. BEST served the Hyderabad-based electric bus maker a show cause notice along with a warning to cancel that contract. The Times of India story indicated that the company has only shipped 275 units so far.
BEST is encountering similar issues for AC double-decker electric buses as well, as per the TOI report. It cancelled an entire order of 700 buses after a contractor failed to deliver even a single unit. Currently, the company holds only a contract for 200 units, presumably the one from Switch Mobility for the EiV22, and it is facing issues with that as well. It added 50 double-decker buses in February and has not procured a single unit since. While Indian electric bus makers are making
headlines with four-digit orders, some of them are seemingly struggling to follow through.
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