JBM-Solaris join hands to manufacture electric buses in India

JBM Auto Ltd. have officially announced their Joint Venture with European bus manufacturer, Solaris Bus & Coach S.A. Under this JV, the companies will be manufacturing a range of electric buses named ECOLIFE. The company claims that the ECOLIFE will be India's first 100% electric bus. Solaris will be responsible for bringing in their proven domain strength in electric buses, while JBM Auto will provide development, engineering, and manufacturing solutions.

The JBM-Solaris JV would be investing Rs. 300 crore in the Indian market. This investment will be utilized for research and development, manufacturing processes, and other operational requirements for the JV's electric mobility project in the country.

The ECOLIFE buses made their Indian debut at this year's Auto Expo in February. Production of this new 100% electric bus will commence from Q4 of the 2016-17 fiscal, and it is expected to go on sale around April 2017.

The JBM-Solaris ECOLIFE is a Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) which gets its juice from a set of lithium batteries. The batteries support fast charging, and the bus can even run on plug-in charging mode. On a single full charge, the ECOLIFE electric bus is capable of covering a range of 200 km, enough for a daily city bus commute.