Govt Sanctions 5,595 Electric Buses in 64 Cities Under 2nd Phase of FAME Scheme

The government has sanctioned 5,595 electric buses in 64 cities for intracity and intercity operations under the second phase of FAME India scheme in order to push for clean mobility in public transportation, an official release said on Thursday. The Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises had invited expression of interest (EoI) from cities with a million-plus population, smart cities, state or UT capitals and special category states for submission of proposal for deployment of electric buses on an operational cost basis.

During the process, the Department of Heavy Industry 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), an official release said.

Each selected city or STUs (state transport undertaking) is now required to initiate the procurement process in a time-bound manner for the deployment of sanctioned electric buses on an operational cost basis, it added. 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, the release added. The buses are expected to run about 4 billion kilometres during their contract period and are expected to save cumulatively about 1.2 billion litres of fuel over the contract period, which will result into avoidance of 2.6 million tonnes of CO2 emission.