Maharashtra: MSRTC places order for 5,150 AC e-buses

Pic/Sameer Mohite

In one of the biggest orders, the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), one of the country's biggest bus fleets with about 17,000 buses, has finally placed orders for 5,150 air-conditioned electric buses. The electric buses have been planned to be run on inter-city corridor routes like Mumbai-Pune, Pune -Nashik on freeways, Pune-Mahabaleshwar and Nashik-Shirdi with charging facilities to be developed along the routes at Aurangabad, Solapur, Nanded, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Pune and Nashik.

"A consortium of Olectra Greentech and Evey Trans Private Ltd (Evey) was awarded a Letter of Intent for an order of 5,150 electric buses. The order involves the supply, operation and maintenance of a total of 5,150 electric buses," an official said, adding that the buses will be procured from Olectra Greentech by Evey, and will then be delivered over a period of 24 months, while the maintenance services will be provided by Olectra Greentech for the entire contract period.

As per the agreement, 2,800 buses will be 12-m long and 2,350 buses 9-m long.

The MSRTC had made an attempt to procure electric buses earlier too, but the project did not achieve much success.

With electric mobility being pushed by the union government, the MSRTC is now reworking its strategy to bring in electric buses. Initially, doubts had been raised internally within the corporation if the electric buses could climb the steep ghats and mountains, however, private buses have been able to negotiate them easily.