Tata Motors gets fresh order for 148 electric buses from Bengaluru's BMTC

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26 Aug, 2025 12:21

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Tata Motors on December 19 said it has bagged an additional order for 148 electric buses from Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC).

This order follows an earlier order of 921 electric buses by BMTC, most of which have been delivered, the company said in a statement.

TML Smart City Mobility Solutions Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary, will be responsible for the supply, operation and maintenance of the Tata Starbus EV 12-metre low-floor electric buses for a 12-year period, Tata Motors said.

Thursday's announcement comes days after the automaker received an order of 1,297 bus chassis from Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC).

This is the third such order for the Tata group firm from UPSRTC in a year with the total order size hitting 3,500.

BMTC officials said that the new buses are part of the ‘Grand Challenge’ initiative by Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL), a public sector undertaking under the Union Power Ministry. Under this scheme, 1,500 buses were allocated to Bengaluru on a gross cost contract (lease model).

In the CESL tender, Tata Motors quoted a rate of Rs 41 per km (inclusive of driver costs) for the operation and maintenance of 1,500 non-AC electric 12-meter buses for a period of 12 years. This means BMTC only needs to deploy conductors, whose salaries amount to around Rs 13 per km. Consequently, the operational cost for these e-buses under the CESL scheme is Rs 54 per km. However, BMTC has opted to induct only 921 electric buses under this initiative.

“Since the subsidy was available only for 921 e-buses, we are now inducting these additional 148 e-buses using funds from the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) and the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT),” a BMTC official explained. Currently, BMTC’s operational cost for a non-AC diesel bus stands at around Rs 65 per km.

(With PTI inputs)