E-Paper
Chandigarh saves diesel worth ₹20 crore through electric buses
As per the data released, the electric buses have covered 1.26 crore km till August 16 on intra-city routes, thus saving over 25.28 lakh litre of diesel
With the introduction of electric buses in the city in November 2021, UT transport department has saved nearly 25 lakh litre of diesel worth ₹20 crore so far, officials said.
Launched in November 2021, as many as 80 electric buses are currently plying on city roads.
As per the data released, the electric buses have covered 1.26 crore km till August 16 on intra-city routes, thus saving over 25.28 lakh litre of diesel. The electric buses have also helped prevent 6,674.91 tonne of Co2 emission, reveals the data.
E-buses fleet include vehicles of Ashok Leyland and Eicher. It takes nearly two hours to fully charge a vehicle. One bus covers a distance of nearly 130 km on a single charge. On an average, each of these buses covers 200 km to 300 km a day. Each bus has a seating capacity of 36.
The state-level steering committee (SLSC) has decided to replace 100 diesel buses in the UT with e-buses sanctioned by the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs under the centrally-sponsored PM e-Bus Sewa Scheme. It was decided that the ministry will again be requested to allocate 80 more buses to the city under this scheme.
The procurement will give a fillip to the administration’s plan of replacing the entire fleet of 350 diesel buses of the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU), running both local as well as on suburban routes with electric ones by 2027-28.
Apart from public transport, the share of private electric vehicles (EVs) is also increasing. Since the implementation of the EV Policy in September 2022, as many as 3,281 electric two-wheelers and 1,785 four-wheelers have been registered in the city till July 15.
According to the data provided by the Registration and License Authority (RLA), 352 electric two-wheelers and 114 four-wheelers were registered from September to December in 2022. The highest number of 2,103 electric two-wheelers and 1,013 four-wheelers had been registered in 2023 and 826 two-wheelers and 658 four-wheelers till July 15 this year in the city.
