Mumbai: BEST to introduce 26 electric buses today

The buses have been procured under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles (FAME)-II scheme of the Central government, which promotes the use of electric vehicles in the country to curb pollution

The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) will be introducing 26 electric buses in the city on Friday. This is the first phase of its plan to ply 340 electric buses in Mumbai by 2022.

One of Mumbai's first e-buses at the Wadala depot. (HT archive)

The buses will be flagged off by Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday afternoon.

The buses will include midi (smaller) and the conventional ones. The midi buses have a seating capacity of 31 and standing capacity for 12 while the conventional electric buses have a seating capacity of nearly 60 passengers and standing capacity for 20. Each of the buses can travel up to 200 kilometres (km) in a single charge.

The buses have been procured under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles (FAME)-II scheme of the Central government, which promotes the use of electric vehicles in the country to curb pollution.

The buses will be operated on all the routes, particularly on feeder and long-distance ones. BEST drivers were trained to operate these buses.

The first set of six electric buses was rolled out by BEST in 2017. The undertaking presently operates 38 electric buses on different routes in the city. BEST, which runs bus service in Mumbai, is the second largest mass transport system after suburban railways in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.