Boost To Green Transportation: Government Approves 5,595 Electric Buses For 64 Cities Under Phase-2 Of FAME Scheme

In a bid to give a further push to clean mobility in public transportation, the government has approved the sanction of 5,595 electric buses to 64 Cities for intra-city and intercity operation under the phase two of Faster Adoption and Manufacture of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles (FAME) India scheme, an official release said on Thursday (8 August).

The Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises had invited the Expression of Interest (EoI) from cities with million-plus population, smart cities, capitals of states or union territories and cities from special category states for submission of proposal for deployment of electric buses on an operational cost basis.

The Department of Heavy Industry, during the process, received 86 proposals from 26 states or UTs for the deployment of 14,988 e-buses.

“After evaluation of these proposals as per EoI, on the advice of Project Implementation and Sanctioning Committee (PISC), the government-sanctioned 5,095 electric buses to 64 cities or state transport corporations for intra-city operation, 400 electric buses for intercity operation and 100 electric buses for last-mile connectivity to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC),” said the official release.

The release added that each selected City/STU (State Transport Undertaking) is now required to initiate the procurement process in a time bound manner for deployment of sanctioned electric buses on operational cost basis.

As per EoI, buses which satisfy required localisation level and technical eligibility notified under FAME India scheme phase II will be eligible for funding under FAME India scheme phase II, it added.

These buses will run about 4 billion kilometers during their contract period and are expected to save cumulatively about 1.2 billion liters of fuel over the contract period, which will result into avoidance of 2.6 million tonnes of CO2 emission, the release said.