Govt charts plan to paint 800k diesel buses green, scheme likely to replace FAME III
diesel buses, more than a third of the total on roads, with electric ones over the next seven years. Apart from lowering vehicular emissions, this is also expected to catalyse investments in the electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem in the country.
The replacement plan includes 200,000 electric buses for state transport undertakings (STUs), 550,000 for private operators, and 50,000 for schools and employee transportation by 2030, top government sources told ET.
Designed to electrify the country's public transport systems, the plan is likely to replace the third leg of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing Electric Vehicles (FAME) incentive programme and pitch India as a global manufacturing hub for EVs.
To put the plan in context, about 138,000 electric buses were sold in China and 4,000 in Europe in 2022.
«Replacing diesel buses with electric ones will not only address environmental concerns but also help create an ecosystem for electric vehicles,» said one of the persons cited above.
«It will accelerate the establishment of a widespread charging infrastructure, generate investments, bring about scale, which will reduce per-unit cost, and simultaneously create jobs in manufacturing.»
According to industry estimates, ₹1.2-1.5 lakh crore capital will be required to roll out 100,000 electric buses in the country at present prices. The government is in the process of consulting stakeholders to draw up the contours of the scheme that may be unveiled next fiscal year.
There have been two meetings of top government officials and representatives from multilateral institutions on how to aggregate and convert the demand, a senior official aware of the development told ET, adding that the focus of talks has been on placing large
