Bengaluru, Delhi & Hyderabad get lion's share of e-buses; Kumaraswamy to meet with OEMs soon
Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Surat cities will get 10,900 brand new electric buses under the
PM's e-Drive Scheme
over the next two years.
Bengaluru will get a lion's share of 4500 buses, followed by 2800 buses for Delhi, 2000 for Hyderabad, 1000 for Ahmedabad and 600 for Surat, Union Heavy Industries & Steel Minister HD Kumaraswamy told ET after chairing a meeting in Delhi on the subject.
'We have not allocated 3000-odd buses to any city because we have not received requests from Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, so far. We want to give them some more time to make a request. If none of them make a request, we may give 500-1000 more to Karnataka and about 400 more for Telangana,' the minister said.
The Centre is keen to see these buses ply on the city roads in the next two years. 'PM's e-Drive is a good scheme. The cities, of course, would have to get the charging infrastructure in place,' he said, while adding that today's meeting marked a significant step forward in advancing PM Modi's vision for giving our cities a clean and inclusive urban transport solution.
Kumaraswamy said he would call for a meeting with the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) soon to understand their production capacity and align the delivery schedule with the Centre's targets. He aimed to have all the 15,000 buses delivered in phases over the next 16 months, and wished to understand if the manufacturers could roll out buses fast.
'Delhi asked for 2800 buses and we met their demand,' the Union Minister said. 'From Bengaluru to Delhi, cities are actively embracing electric buses to make public transport cleaner and efficient.'
The PM e-Drive initiative aims to deploy 14,028 electric buses with a total financial outlay of Rs 10,900 crore over a two-year period from April 2024 to March 2026. The scheme represents one of the world's largest national efforts to electrify public transport at scale.
The Ministry of Heavy Industries remains committed to timely delivery, operational readiness, and strategic partnerships with all participating states, Kumaraswamy, who is also the former CM of Karnataka, said.
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