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The Puducherry government has also proposed to buy 75 additional electric buses under the PM-eBus Sewa scheme.
Representative Picture
Puducherry’s public transport system is getting an eco-friendly upgrade. Six electric buses have already arrived in May, and 19 more are expected to hit the roads by the end of July.
These zero-emission vehicles aim to make the city’s air cleaner and cut down on pollution.
While other southern states adopted electric buses earlier, Puducherry is now catching up. The aim is to fully switch to electric buses for both city and rural routes operated by the Puducherry Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) by the end of this year.
These new electric buses are being introduced under the FAME-II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid & Electric Vehicles in India) scheme by the Union government, as per The Hindu.
- Fleet Details: 25 buses – 10 air-conditioned (AC) and 15 non-AC – each 9 metres in length
- Operational Model: Gross cost contract in a public-private partnership (PPP) mode
- Funding: Rs 23 crore from the Smart City project, used for infrastructure and payments based on distance covered
- Routes: Tentatively 15 within the city, run under a viability gap funding model.
Charging Station and Maintenance Setup
The charging infrastructure is being developed by Evey Trans Private Limited, a subsidiary of Olectra Greentech. It will be located on a 25,000 sq ft government site on Maraimalai Adigal Salai.
Key facts:
- Each bus runs up to 200 km on a single charge
- Charging time: around six hours
- Battery life: 6–7 years
- Operator to handle drivers, power cost, and maintenance for 12 years.
75 More Electric Buses on the Way
The Puducherry government has also submitted a proposal to the Centre under the PM-eBus Sewa scheme to acquire 75 additional electric buses.
Plans include:
- 50 buses (12-metre AC) for inter-city and mofussil routes
- 25 buses (9-metre AC) for urban routes
According to the plan:
- Centre will subsidise Rs 24/km for inter-city routes and Rs 23/km for urban routes
- The Puducherry administration will bear the remaining operational costs
- States or cities will manage daily operations and payments to service providers.
Samreen Pall, Senior Sub-Editor at News18, is a Computer Science graduate but a writer at heart, Samreen has one motto that she swears by: ‘Everything is dull and useless if it has no drama in it.’ This motto c…Read More
Samreen Pall, Senior Sub-Editor at News18, is a Computer Science graduate but a writer at heart, Samreen has one motto that she swears by: ‘Everything is dull and useless if it has no drama in it.’ This motto c… Read More
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