[Tushar]

Singapore-based entrepreneur Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Modi announced his entry into the electric vehicle industry by launching the 'Smart Dreams' brand. Smart Dreams has joined hands with Build Your Dreams (BYD) Auto Industry Co. Ltd to produce electric vehicles in India and has inaugurated an electric bus manufacturing facility in ModiCiti, near NCT Delhi.

Smart Dreams will be producing a range of electric vehicles in India, with a primary focus on the public transport sector, including e-buses and e-taxis. Smart Dreams has also offered two pure-electric buses to the Delhi Government for a free trial. These buses are currently being tested on a commercial route pre-allocated by the Delhi Transport Corporation.

The bus model is air-conditioned and has a battery life of more than 4,000 recharging cycles. It can cover a distance of 250 kms with a fully charged battery. Further, the battery used is recyclable.

With pollution and congestion levels on the rise, the company is expecting more incentives from the government to encourage industry players and citizens to adopt electric vehicles.

[girishglg]

Interesting to see that the electric bus segment is hotting up in our country. First it was the news of JBM & Solaris unveiling 'ECOLIFE’ electric bus and now this one.

Would be really nice to see a comparison between these eco buses in terms of their specifications and features.

Wonder who will be the first big customer for these buses?

[GTO]

Modi seems like quite the showman, eh?

Good partnership and no small fish they are. BK Modi's net worth is between $600 million to $1 billion, while BYD is one of the largest Chinese manufacturers. They even have a JV with Daimler whose scope includes EVs.

[sreeharipv]

Whatever it takes!

Bring on the electric buses. I can't see why the electric buses are not norm by now. EVs are touted as 3-4 times more efficient well to wheels. That's when you consider highway driving. Most of the buses don't do that and the well to wheel will be substantially lower. When the bus is stuck at a traffic light, its infinite times more efficient. Please bring them on.

What happened to all the 'electric conversion' talk by Nitin Gadkari?

[renegade004]

This is the kind of solution that Arvind Kejriwal should be looking for to reduce pollution in Delhi, instead of the hare-brained 'odd-even' scheme that does little more than inconvenience the public and, in fact, inspires them to find ways to beat it by purchasing two vehicles instead of one, with one having an odd registration number and the other an even one.

[antz.bin]

Delhi gets its first All Electric Citybus. Most probably one of the improved versions of the BYD eBus

As per the news report on Overdrive, the bus has a seating capacity of 31 and range of ~280km on a 4 hr charge. Since this is all electric, the running cost is just Rs.12.06/km, substantially lower than a Diesel powered bus.

The specifications on the BYD website though say that the range is 250km with a battery capacity of 324KWh (3 times the size of the Tesla Model S P85 battery). Consumption of about 1.3 KWh/km .

Battery has a recharge rating of 4000 cycles. That gives the battery a service life of 280*4000 = 11.2lakh km. Good enough durability for any commercial vehicle especially considering the fact that there is no IC engine vibrating inside the body causing fatigue to the rest of the parts of the bus. Let's hope this works out better for us and finally there is a ray of hope against the smoke belching monsters crawling through our cities.

[Ashley2]

BYD will be important show stopper in the next wave of Indian bus industry. The first one being Volvo in Intercity travel and now BYD in electric powertrain. BYD is offering tough fight to Volvo, Scania and MB even in their home pitch in Europe. BYD is now the largest player in ELectric buses. No way Volvo or Scania or even Mercedes is near by. (Some of BYD buses are already running in trials in Rajkot)
When Volvo says all electric city buses will be ready by 2017, BYD have demonstrated full electric Intercity Coach. A first of its kind in Intercity application. Standard features of coach are 180kw (241bhp) motor, ESC Advanced emergency braking system (AEBS) + Adaptive cruise control (ACC) + Regenerative braking energy recovery system, Lane departure warning system, Tyre pressure monitoring system for all wheels, Keyless start, Automatic fire extinguishers in the front and rear cabins, AC quick charge facility, Stainless steel body with good corrosion resistance etc.



Similarly BYD which exhibited all electric doudle decker buses in Bus World, they have hit the market and this was launched last week in London.
This vehicle is one of a fleet of five which will shortly be entering service on Route 98 operated on behalf of Transport for London by Metroline. BYD is
working with TfL and Metroline on an introduction program which includes driver training and the installation of fast charging equipment at Metroline’s Willesden Bus Garage in north London.



This bus is 10.2m long, features full air conditioning and offers seats for a total 54 passengers with a further 27 standees spaces (total passengers: 81). The BYD Iron Phosphate batteries deliver 345 kWh of power and can run for up to 190 miles of typical urban driving according to the internationally recognised SORT test conditions. Recharging takes just four hours and can be completed overnight using low cost off peak electricity. This is more than enough to handle most daily duty cycles.

[gsurya]

Himachal Pradesh Govt is shortly putting out a big tender for electric buses & charging stations, this is likely to be the first big order from a state. Will help environment also in a big way.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/him...li/181505.html

Bangalore is also testing an Electric bus on some routes, so Karnataka may also join in soon

http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/india/...kg-671697.html

[parth.jain]

Spotted this bus with a Gujarat registration number running in Delhi near Ansal Plaza. Way to go



The bus was plying on route no. 413 with "Delhi Dialogue" written on it. Also,'Zero Emissions' and 'Pure Electric' was also written.

[Ashley2]

This should be the trial bus which was running in Rajkot.