India: Eicher supplies electric buses for Bengaluru airport
IndiGo has procured six units of Eicher Trucks and Buses’ Skyline Pro-E 12m model and will use them for ferrying passengers between terminals and aircraft at KIA. The new fleet builds on IndiGo’s ongoing efforts to make ground operations more sustainable.
The Skyline Pro-E 12m is a low-floor bus that Eicher Trucks and Buses designed especially for tarmac application. The electric model is 12.0 metres long and 2.6 metres wide, has a 6.0-metre wheelbase, and offers 185 mm of ground clearance. It accommodates 69 passengers, 17 seated and 52 standing.
Eicher Trucks and Buses uses a 235 kW motor and an IP 67-rated battery pack in the Skyline Pro-E 12m. This model can accelerate from 0 to 30 kph in less than 10.5 seconds, achieve a top speed of 75 kph, and travel up to 300 km on a full charge. The company equips it with air conditioning and air suspension at both ends for enhanced passenger comfort.
Eicher Trucks and Buses is a subsidiary of VE Commercial Vehicles, a joint venture between Volvo Group and India’s Eicher Motors, and this is the first time the company has supplied electric buses for tarmac application. Commenting on the new milestone, Suresh Chettiar, Executive Vice President – Bus Division, VE Commercial Vehicles, said, “With these tarmac coaches, Eicher stands committed to sustainably transporting the 42 million passengers that use this gateway to India’s Silicon Valley each year.”
IndiGo is actively working on electrifying ground operations, and its new fleet of electric buses at KIA is a step forward in that direction. Earlier this year, the company deployed four electric buses each at the Mangaluru Airport (Mangaluru, Karnataka) and the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport (Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala). Last year, it converted its entire tarmac bus fleet at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (Ahmedabad, Gujarat) into electric.
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