India: JBM raises $100 million to accelerate e-bus rollout
The JBM Auto subsidiary secured the new investment from International Financial Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. Nishant Arya, the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of JBM Auto, said this is IFC’s largest investment in a project for deploying electric buses.
The major investment from IFC will help JBM Auto finance the rollout of air-conditioned electric buses in two western states — Gujarat and Maharashtra — and one in the northeast – Assam. The company will carry out the deployments in Maharashtra and Assam projects as part of tenders it secured under the PM-eBus Sewa Scheme.
“By way of this e-bus project, we aim to reduce CO 2 emissions by over 1.6 Bn kgs, save diesel to the tune of 600+ Mn litres, generate employment for over 5,500 people and touch the lives of over 1 Bn passengers over the project tenure,” Arya said. India has two million buses on its roads, and with the government targeting 40% electrification in this segment by 2030, JBM Ecolife Mobility sees a major opportunity to scale up its business.
For the first time, specifically in the Maharashtra and Assam projects, JBM Ecolife Mobility will secure the operations utilising the PM e-Bus Sewa-Payment Security Mechanism (PSM) scheme. The Indian government provides public transport authorities subsidies for inducting electric buses under the PM e-Bus Sewa scheme when they lease them on a Gross Cost Contract (GCC) basis. It came up with the supplementary PSM scheme later to set up a dedicated fund that ensures the OEMs/operators supplying the electric buses do not fear payment defaults from public transport authorities and confidently help them add electric buses to their fleet.
JBM Ecolife Mobility already operates electric buses in Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat, Hyderabad, and several other major cities in India. By 2027, the company aims to operate a fleet of more than 6,500 units.
Its parent company, JBM Auto, has so far supplied over 2,500 electric buses across ten states and 15 airports and holds a pending order book of 11,000 units. In June, it forayed into Europe with Germany as the first market, launching the Eco-Life e12 12-metre electric city bus. The company will likely commence its deliveries between January and March next year.
0 Comments