The BEST - Mumbai's public bus services - on Monday further reduced its carbon footprints by inducting 10 swank electric buses for the city commuters, a top official said.
"Earlier, the BEST had acquired six electric buses in Nov 2017, added 10 more today and will get another 30 by October-end. The programme has been delayed on account of the rains," Olectra Greentech COO Anand Swaroop told IANS.
However, every week from today, the company will deliver five eBuzz K7 buses which are 9-metres long, wet-leased on Gross Cost Contract basis, he said.
Swaroop added that the move to add more eBuzz K7 after the first set received an extremely good response for the high comfort levels, smooth ride, cutting costs and helping conserve the environment.
Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray and Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar received the keys of the 10 electric buses from Swaroop at a function here this afternoon.
According to Swaroop, the eBuses were deployed under the centre's Faster Adoption & Manufacture of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles - FAME1 scheme, initiated by the Ministry of Heavy Industries.
Olectra-BYD is the first electric vehicle manufacturer in the country to achieve the milestone of crossing five million km cumulatively driven by its eBuses under commercial operations in Himachal Pradesh, Hyderabad, Kerala, Mumbai and Pune.
After the full strength of 46 is achieved, it will help transport around one million Mumbai commuters each month in zero-emission comforts.
"The BEST is planning to procure another 250 eBuses. On an average, running the 46 eBuses along would reduce carbon emissions by 1.2 crore tonnes of carbon dioxide or equivalent to planting 60,000 trees and saves the BMC cost of 3.70 million litres diesel annually," Swaroop said.
He said in the long run this would yield macro-economic benefits like conserving valuable Foreign Exchange due to reduced dependency on fossil fuels (petroleum).
Explaining the benefits of eBuses, he said the new fleet had airconditioned and non-airconditioned, low floor buses which can travel upto 200 km in a single-charge based on traffic conditions.
"Each e-Bus can be charged within 2-3 hours, has a capacity of 32+a driver, electronically controlled air-suspension, 3 CCTV cameras for safety of commuters, regenerative braking, protection for short-circuits, etc.," said Swaroop.
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