First set of 40 Electric buses by Ashok Leyland to arrive in Chandigarh

Aug, 2021 - By WMR

Chennai-based commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland has received an order to build and supply 40 Electric buses to Chandigarh city

On August 12, 2021 Chandigarh, the first E-bus was flagged off by Mr. VP Singh Badnore, the Governor of Chandigarh under the FAME II Scheme. Under the FAME II scheme, the buses will be supplied to the Chandigarh City Bus Service Society. The FAME II scheme was introduced in April 2019 to drive the adoption of Electric Vehicles in India. The buses will run on the routes set by the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking. Mr. VP Singh Badnore flagged the first Electric bus from the Raj Bhawan and traveled to the Sector 17 police station.

Ashok Leyland will look after the operations and maintain the cohort as well as the infrastructure of the charging would be developed at Depot-3, ISBT-17, ISBT-43, and PGI area in the Chandigarh city. Switch Mobility, the electric vehicle arm of Ashok Leyland will develop the charging stations across the city in partnership with SIEMENS. In April 2021, Switch Mobility and SIEMENS signed an MOU intending to deliver cost-effective, efficient, and sustainable electric mobility solutions to commercial vehicles in India.

The E-bus when fully charged; can cover around 130 km and takes two hours to fully charge it. The buses are featured with quick charging technology and an air conditioning system. It has a seating capacity of 35 passengers and mobile charging points for each row of seats. The E-buses would save about 600,000 liters of fuel and reduce the carbon emissions of about 1,700 tonnes annually. Out of 40 buses, 19 buses are likely to arrive by September 30 2021 and the remaining 20 buses will arrive by October 2021. The procurement of additional 40 electric buses is under development and these are likely to be received next year.