Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched the first electric bus of Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) on Monday. According to Kejriwal, this is a major milestone in the transportation environment of Delhi. He also revealed to reporters that a bus was added to the fleet of DTC after 2011 – a jinx that has finally been broken.
‘Today, Delhi got its first electric bus and this is an important milestone in various aspects. First, this is the beginning of a new era in the transport sector in Delhi. In the coming years, these electric buses will replace the old fleet of buses in Delhi’, Kejriwal said, adding that ‘this is an important step in controlling the pollution in Delhi. It’s a noiseless, zero-emission vehicle’.
As per Kejriwal, the bus takes 1-1.5 hours to completely charge and can go 120 kilometres on a single charge. ‘Delhi will have 300 electric buses by April and we plan to roll put 2,000 more such buses in the next few years’, he said.
The 27-kilometre-long Route E44 (Pragati Maidan to IP Depot via ITO, Safdarjung, Ashram) will be served by the prototype bus, which arrived earlier this month. It has been manufactured by JBM Auto Limited.
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When the broad public transportation rollout begins next month, fifty additional e-buses are planned to be added to the DTC fleet. There are a total of 2,300 electric buses in the works. The DTC will purchase 1,300 of them, while the remaining 1,000 will operate under the cluster arrangement. For these e-buses, the Delhi government will install charging stations at bus depots. This will be accomplished in stages.
In July 2018, it was reported that e-buses would be introduced in Delhi. The Delhi government will solely purchase electric buses in the future.
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