[TusharK]

Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECV) will supply 40 electric buses to Mumbai as part of a government order announced back in December 2017.



The Skyline Pro E electric bus, which was launched in February 2018, uses Revolo - an electrification technology developed by KPIT Technologies. The system is claimed to regenerate 36% energy resulting in a consumption of just 0.8 units per km. The maximum range on a single charge with air-conditioning on is claimed to be 177 km. The new electric bus will be built at VECV's Pithampur plant in Madya Pradesh.

Earlier, the government had announced that it would provide a Rs. 437 crore subsidy to 11 cities for launching electric buses, taxis and 3-wheelers. In addition to Mumbai, the government will provide a subsidy for 40 electric buses each to eight other cities. These include Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Indore and Kolkata.

Source: Economic Times

Link to Team-BHP News

[carmayogi]

Originally Posted by TusharK

Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECV) will supply 40 electric buses to Mumbai as part of a government order announced back in December 2017.

I am a strong believer in this technology, specifically for this application because it makes the most sense.

Electrifying a bus network is the best deployment of the technology as far as I am concerned for several reasons.

1. You know where the bus starts and ends, so range anxiety is not an issue. If a bus goes from point a to b, you can have plugs at either end to top off the bus. Most bus routes in Mumbai are less than 30 km one way, so you could easily pull this off. Much easier than Battery EV adoption for a private player who may have a mixed schedule depending on life, holidays, etc.

2. Removing 1 bus, burning diesel, means that with each single bus, you have the pollution reduction effect of maybe 8 to 10 private cars, maybe more.

3. It's also been proven that electric vehicles are much much cheaper to run per kilometer, meaning many of our financially stressed public transport companies in India can get a lifeline in the form of reduced daily expenses. The Skyline article lists energy usage at 0.8 units per km. Even if we take that as 1 and at the highest BEST tariff, that's Rs. 4.65 per km. Compare that to diesel at 3 km/l in city traffic which may be too high honestly, and that's Rs. 23 per km at a diesel price of Rs. 70.

4. Currently, electric vehicles are more expensive to make, but that price is falling every day with battery prices reducing. Soon it will make no economic sense to use internal combustion for public transport. Look at China's progress on this subject.