News: 

The Delhi government is working towards electrifying the national capital which already holds 3 electric bus depots that can accommodate more than 300 electric buses. The AAP party is already working towards enabling all of the 62 bus depots to be electric bus depots.

The bus depots at Mundhela Kalan and Rohini Sector- 37 and the Rajghat depots are the 3 bus depots in the national capital for E-buses. Moreover, the Delhi Transport Corporation has 152 electric buses currently. Soon another 150 e-buses added as a part of the Cluster scheme fleet. These acquisition are a part of the Cluster Scheme that include 330 E-buses. Similarly, 1500 E-buses will be acquired as per the CESL’s Grand Challenge Scheme.

As per the statement of Mr. Ashish Kundra – Secretary/ Transport Commissioner;

There are 12 depots that are being electrified. Further, these transformations are in accordance with the acquisition of 1500 E- Buses. Moreover, he added there would be a comprehensive plan for building the Electric Bus Depots.  Building of the depots shall happen in phases. This shall hugely depend on the power load being provided.  Further, advance actions to build the depots were actioned considering the arrival of the E-buses.

The power load would vary from location to location. However, for 100 e-buses a 4kv load should be sufficient to charge. The time required to build a depot with an 11kv capacity can be 4-6 months. Whereas, a depot with a 33kv capacity would require 9-12 months. For a depot with a 66kv capacity would require an additional grid.

Few depots may require additional facilities, resulting in extended time for completion. The Rohini Sector-37 depot is an example which took a year and half to complete.

Under the Grand Challenge Scheme the DTC Board approved 921 buses under FAME-II category. The Delhi government shall offer a subsidy of INR. 262cr for the 579 buses procured as non-FAME-II Category.

The focus of the government is to move to an EV eco-system for the public transport vehicles.