[ssambyal1980]

The nation’s most tourist frequented motorable pass i.e Rohtang Pass has now been finally connected to the famous Himalayan resort town of Manali with electric bus service. The plan to run electric buses on the ecologically fragile Manali-Rohtang stretch was in the pipeline since last couple of years. With thousands of tourists visiting Rohtang Pass on daily basis during peak season, the area was witnessing meteoric rise in air pollution levels owing to large number of vehicles which ferried the tourists.

Acting on a PIL against rising pollution levels in the Himalayan environs, the NGT taking cognizance stepped in and as a preliminary measure issued orders thereby restricting the maximum number of private cars, taxis and tourist buses which can visit Rohtang on any given day. Therefore a system of issuing permits to vehicles on first come first serve basis was started as per which only 1200 vehicles are allowed to visit Rohtang Pass every day. Out of 1200 vehicles allowed daily, 800 permits are issued to petrol vehicles and 400 to diesel vehicles. And now with the running of electric buses on the Manali-Rohtang stretch the situation will improve further.

The benefits will be:
1. Ease in traffic congestion as many tourists will opt for travelling by electric buses instead of private vehicles.
2. Use of public transportation will be economically more viable for the tourists.
3. Pollution levels will come down further.
4. With lesser number of vehicles on the stretch the BRO will be able to carry on the road maintenance tasks more conveniently.

Kullu, September 21
Himachal Pradesh today became the country’s first state to ply eco-friendly electric buses on the 51-km eco-fragile stretch between Manali and Rohtang. Directives from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had compelled the hill state to explore the possibility of eco-friendly transportation to save the area from further degradation.

With no company in India manufacturing battery-operated buses, these have been imported. The service to Rohtang has been launched with the first consignment of 25 buses, each priced at Rs 1.70 crore. The Ministry of Surface Transport, that has provided 75 per cent funding, has agreed to 90 per cent funding for the purchase of smaller electric buses to be plied in other tourist towns. “As the winter sets in and the service to Rohtang is halted, these buses will be pressed into service in Manali, Kullu, Dharamsala, Mandi and Kasol as our effort is to protect environment,” said Transport Minister GS Bali.

Each electric bus, with a capacity to carry 30 passengers, can cover a distance up to 200 km on a fully charged battery. The fares are yet to be fixed but would be marginally higher than those for petrol/diesel buses.
The NGT had banned diesel and petrol vehicles between the popular tourist destination of Manali and Rohtang, evoking a strong reaction. Later, the tribunal fixed their number at 1,200 (800 petrol and 400 diesel) on issuance of permit.

Himachal is next working towards CNG-operated buses on the Manali-Rohtang stretch. The Gas Authority of India Ltd is yet to lay the Una-Manali CNG pipeline.

Courtesy: The Tribune

[abhishek46]

None of the articles on the web, mention anything about the Make of the Bus.
There are no pictures either!

Anyone knows what is the make and specifications of these buses?
Rs 1.7 Crore for a 30 Seater bus sounds expensive!

[ssambyal1980]

Originally Posted by abhishek46

None of the articles on the web, mention anything about the Make of the Bus.
There are no pictures either!

Anyone knows what is the make and specifications of these buses?
Rs 1.7 Crore for a 30 Seater bus sounds expensive!

Couldn't agree more. Was equally baffled at the exorbitant price of the bus. Too tried to look out for the type of buses being used but couldn't find anything on the web.

Anyways following is the link to the news: http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nat...ch/471197.html

[k88k]

Its Ashok Leyland "Circuit".

http://www.cvnews.in/ashok-leyland-c...nters-rohtang/

The burden of cost will be shared between the centre and the state.

[centaur]

Not sure how restricting the number of vehicles in a day will reduce pollution because not necessarily all days have the same flow of vehicles. Some days it may be more and some days it might be less and would average out anyway. SO basically now on days when 1200 vehicles are not visiting, the passes stay idle and on other days people need to wait for long to get the pass.

I for some reason fear another black market racket here when in pimps would get you passes for an additional amount for the same day even if its officially sold out.

Originally Posted by abhishek46

There are no pictures either!

Here you go. Plenty of pics

https://www.google.co.in/search?q=el...w=1366&bih=638

From another link -

“Electric bus are brought to India by the Goldstone company. These buses require 100 KVA electric charger. It can run for about 200 Km after being charged for two hours. Two charging points, one at Manali and one at Marhi, have been installed,” he said.

Source

The trial run of the electric bus by Gold Stone Company has been successful on the Manali-Rohtang route and now Ashok Leyland is also expected to send its vehicle for trial run in December. “The BoDs of will soon take a call on whether to go ahead with the purchase of the electric vehicles or stick to the mandatory participation by three companies,” said Transport Minister GS Bali.
Though seven companies, including Mahindra, Tata, Kiti and the JBM, had shown interest in supplying electric buses, the bids have been sent in only by Gold Stone and Ashok Leyland. No automobile company in India is manufacturing battery-operated buses and these will have to imported from abroad.

Source

[ssambyal1980]

Originally Posted by k88k

Its Ashok Leyland "Circuit".

http://www.cvnews.in/ashok-leyland-c...nters-rohtang/

The burden of cost will be shared between the centre and the state.

Thanks a lot for clearing the doubt. In the link it is mentioned that the cost of the bus would be around INR 1.2 Crore with batteries alone accounting for 60% of the cost, whereas the actual cost has come around to be INR 1.7 Crore as per the news report. This escalation of around INR 50 lacs per bus could be most likely due to willful escalation of the price over and above the reserved price as it is a common practice in case of government tenders to benefit the facilitators. Nonetheless with carrying capacity being restricted 30 seats per bus due to treacherous mountain route, it would take quite a while for the HP Government to recover the cost of the buses despite contributing 25% towards the cost.

[k88k]

Originally Posted by ssambyal1980

..This escalation of around INR 50 lacs per bus could be most likely due to willful escalation of the price over and above the reserved price as it is a common practice in case of government tenders to benefit the facilitators. Nonetheless with carrying capacity being restricted 30 seats per bus due to treacherous mountain route, it would take quite a while for the HP Government to recover the cost of the buses despite contributing 25% towards the cost.

Most of the conversations regarding cost of electric vehicles start and end with battery cost. Nothing wrong in that and no doubt on it being the major contributor to the overall bus cost. But we should also think about the other materials which are used to make eVehicles, case in point, the eBus here.

When it comes to electric vehicles, the range per charge is one of the most important factor for a buyer, considering the plight of the charging infrastructure in the present time. What if a different/special material instead of the regular metal body was used to build the bus to make it lighter in weight for it to return higher range, which ultimately had a cascading impact on cost? Another factor, we are discounting here is the development cost. The manufacturer could have also tried to recover the R&D expense. Since the order size was a mere 25 buses the impact of this cost will be profound.

Originally Posted by k88k

Its Ashok Leyland "Circuit".

http://www.cvnews.in/ashok-leyland-c...nters-rohtang/

The burden of cost will be shared between the centre and the state.

The bus has been manufactured by Goldstone Infratech and not Ashok Leyland. My bad.

[centaur]

Originally Posted by k88k

The bus has been manufactured by Goldstone Infratech and not Ashok Leyland. My bad.

Was just about to correct this but you posted it yourself. I would say you were not completely wrong though. Ashok Leyland buses will start testing from December. So it will be Goldstone and Ashok Leyand buses eventually I guess.

[hybridpetrol]

Interesting!

We traveled in a taxi in 2011 to Rohtang, and it was a horrible stretch to travel, with loose gravel & large potholes, with landslides now and then. The route was hard to take even for a small car. Not sure how the bus service, that too electric would address it.

Would they cut down on taxis then? If the taxi operations continue as before, the tourist circuit will continue to opt for the taxis for privacy reasons, and buses will go empty after a few days of operations is my opinion.

[ssambyal1980]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Interesting!
We traveled in a taxi in 2011 to Rohtang, and it was a horrible stretch to travel, with loose gravel & large potholes, with landslides now and then. The route was hard to take even for a small car. Not sure how the bus service, that too electric would address it.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Off late the road from Manali to Rohtang has improved a lot and all thanks to the relentless efforts of the BRO and GREF on whom lies the responsibility of maintaining this strategically important route from defence point of view, as this route is the part of Manali-Leh Highway used by Army to transport men and material to the forward areas in the Ladakh sector. Have drove many times on this stretch during trips undertaken to Lahaul Valley, Spiti Valley, Pangi Valley and Ladakh in Maruti 800 and Maruti Dzire and can say by experience that the things have improved a lot.

Although problem of landslides is quite common during the monsoon season especially between the 17 km Marhi-Rohtang stretch with Rani Nullah remaining the most vulnerable point. The road is repaired after the monsoons and remains in best condition till it closes for traffic upon closure of Rohtang due to heavy snowfall. IMO the best time to visit Rohtang and beyond is immediately after the monsoons with the best time being the month of September.

Links to travelogues of trips beyond Rohtang:

Pangi Valley & Lahaul Valley Trip: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...fulfilled.html

Spiti Valley Trip: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ure-sedan.html

Ladakh Trip: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...uti-dzire.html

[TusharK]

Goldstone Infratech Limited has launched India's first electric bus for public transport. To manufacture electric buses in India, the company has tied up with China's BYD Auto Industry Co. Ltd. - the largest electric vehicle maker in the world.



The Goldstone eBuzz K7 is a 25+1 seater electric bus, which has been ARAI certified and has a claimed range of 200 km on a single charge. Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) will be adding 25 electric buses to their fleet. Meanwhile, India's first electric bus has entered service and will ply on the Kullu-Manali to Rohtang pass route.

The buses have Lithium-ion Iron Phosphate batteries ensuring longer lifetime and better power density compared to the current batteries. The buses will also have a fast charging technology that can recharge the batteries to full in less than 4 hours.

According to the company, the bus has already completed high altitude trials over 13,000 feet. It has successfully completed trials in major Indian cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Rajkot as well.

Mumbai might become the first metropolitan city in India to introduce electric buses for public transport. According to Goldstone-BYD, they have received an order for 6 electric buses from Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST).

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by TusharK

Goldstone Infratech Limited has launched India's first electric bus for public transport. To manufacture electric buses in India, the company has tied up with China's BYD Auto Industry Co. Ltd. - the largest electric vehicle maker in the world.

Attachment 1678678

The Goldstone eBuzz K7 is a 25+1 seater electric bus, which has been ARAI certified and has a claimed range of 200 km on a single charge. Himachal Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) will be adding 25 electric buses to their fleet. Meanwhile, India's first electric bus has entered service and will ply on the Kullu-Manali to Rohtang pass route.

While the big guns argue, our ministers make statements and young citizens, on internet forums, criticize electric road transport a small company from an even smaller state launches electric bus transport inter-city. May their entrepreneurship pay off. And while we wonder and argue over hackneyed statements about coal China produced 115,600 electric buses in 2016 most in the 10 metre plus (in length) category ie medium to big.

TusharK, thank you for sharing this. When I see entrepreneurial zeal and risk taking in small and medium Indian companies , I know all is well and pulsating beneath the surface of our functioning anarchy. When I started my career before Maruti came it would have been impossible to believe that we would one day be the world's 5th largest manufacturer of cars. Maybe one day, say in 20 years, we could be the 2nd largest manufacturer of electric road transport vehicles.

[SmartCat]

I hope this baby has enough juice to get to Rohtang Pass & back. The occasional traffic jams on road to Rohtang is likely to cause some serious anxiety to the bus driver!

Passenger seating area looks nice and modern. Bus is equipped with ABS. Goldstone BYD Electric Bus website: http://goldstoneebus.com/

Goldstone Infratech is actually a NSE listed company and they make power equipment. They clocked a decent Rs. 100 cr in revenues.

[mn2363]

Had seen this bus being trialled locally in Chandigarh. Hope they replace the current Tata MarcoPolo diesel ones soon-ish, quite a noise racket and smoke billowing machines they are! And wasn't Tata also doing something with electric buses, I think it was in T-BHP News a while back.

From long term perspective/ feasibilty/ technology adoption, I guess some entity, either government or private sector, has to set up a Li-Fe-P battery manufacturing unit.

The Li-ion facility by Suzuki, Toshiba, Denso JV being planned/ built seems like a good start.

[blackwasp]

Electric buses will be hit with drivers on the mountains. The torque from 0 rpm will be a boon. Also, the bus seems equipped with lots of safety features including auto braking, ABS and rear view camera.

I remember reading a test report about efficiency of electric trucks/buses - link - the results:

In the next decade, battery electric trucks and buses are more likely to be placed in service in these slower speed operations because of battery range limitations, battery costs, and energy recovery advantages associated with regenerative braking. Commercial sales of battery electric vehicles are targeting uses with shorter range needs. Electric models exist today for several truck categories operating at lower speeds with almost all being under 20 mph. Our expectation that the early battery electric truck and bus market is more likely to be supported by centrally operated and maintained fleets that are expected to primarily be charged in the yard.