Delhi will add more electric buses to its fleet by the end of this financial year. Another 100 such electric buses will be in service next month, a top official of the capital’s public transport agency, Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), said. The electric buses will be leased from Tata Motors, which earlier delivered 300 electric vehicles to the Delhi government. Dubbed Tata Starbus EVs, these buses form the linchpin of Delhi’s electric public transport. With these new additions, the DTC-owned electric vehicle fleet will total 400 vehicles by the end of March.
The Tata Starbus EV was first launched in 2020. These low-floor electric buses can accommodate 35 passengers. Starbus EV buses are equipped with electric motors that generate an output of 245 kW. Each bus is estimated to save 330,000 tons of PM 2.5 and PM 10 carbon dioxide (CO2) over its 10-year lifespan. DTC’s Shilpa Shinde, MD, recently visited Tata Motors’ factory in Karnataka to inspect the buses. “We will receive the first batch of 100 buses by the end of March or the first week of April,” news agency PTI quoted Shinde as saying.
These electric buses are equipped with CCTV cameras, panic buttons and other features. The introduction of electric buses is in line with the Delhi government’s plan to increase the number of its electric buses to 1,800 by the end of this year. If the government plans to introduce another 1,500 electric buses by 2023, Delhi will become the city with the largest number of electric buses in India. “By the end of 2023, all 1,500 buses will be included in the bus fleet of the transport department, after which the total number of electric buses will reach Delhi’s public transport fleet will reach 1,800. This will be the highest among all states in the country,” said Shinde .
In two years, Delhi plans to have more than 6,000 electric buses on the road. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has said that nearly 80% of Delhi’s buses will be electric by 2025. In an event for the decommissioning of electric buses, Kejriwal had said that these electric buses would help Delhi reduce its carbon footprint and help tackle the growing pollution crisis.
First published date: Feb 14, 2023 at 12:47pm CST
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