Sector 10 depot to go electric soon with new e-bus fleet

According to officials, the Haryana transport department will procure a total of 550 e-buses, officials aware of the matter said. The depot is expected to be equipped with charging stations by first week of May, officials said

The Gurugram Metropolitan City Bus Limited, the city’s public transport provider, is gearing up to convert its bus service into an electric one with the installation of charging stations ahead of procurement of 50 e-buses expected to be completed by July this year, officials said on Wednesday.

A 11kV feeder line will be laid down at the bus depot for uninterrupted power supply. (Parveen Kumar/HT PHOTO)

According to officials, the Haryana transport department will procure a total of 550 e-buses, officials aware of the matter said. The depot is expected to be equipped with charging stations by first week of May, officials said.

A dedicated 11kV feeder line will be laid down at the GMCBL bus depot at Sector 10 to supply uninterrupted power to the charging station. Besides, an electrical sub-station will also be built at the depot, officials said, adding that a back-up power source will be ensured in case of outage.

The Sector 10 depot is divided into two parts, of which one is spread on seven acres and the other on a five-acre plot.

The larger plot, which is presently being used for CNG buses, will be the transformed into an e-charging station, Mani Ram Sharma, chief general manager (mobility) of Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority, said. “The existing bus fleet will be relocated to the five-acre plot,” he said.

Sharma said that an architectural plan for the same has been submitted to GMDA by the technical team of Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System Limited, besides details about the infrastructural requirements.

“We will lay the 11kV feeder line, install a power substation and develop other infrastructure for the firm which will supply the e-buses. The bays of charging stations will have to be installed by them,” he said.

Meanwhile, the senior officials of the Haryana transport department said that the bidder for supplying the 550 electric buses has been finalised and they expect to get an official communication from the Union ministry of power’s Convergence Energy Services Limited by Friday.

SP Parmar, joint transport controller of the Haryana transport department, said that the most important aspect will be the installation of charging stations by the selected bidder which will supply the buses.

“...we estimate that by the end of April or first week of May, delivery of the electric buses will start,” Parmar said.

“It may take up to two months to fully convert an existing depot into a e-charging station. We will get these stations built on priority. Their construction will begin as soon as work order is given to the selected bidder. They will install one or two charging stations initially at every depot as each of them would be able to charge 10 buses simultaneously,” he said.

At present, GMCBL operates a fleet of 208 low-floor CNG buses. It has two depots in the city, of which one is located in Sector 52.