Convergence Energy Services (CESL), a state-owned company, has floated an initiative called Grand Challenge which aims to create homogenized demand for electric buses aggregated across nine cities.
The initiative invites state transport undertakings (STUs) to express their demand for electric buses and access the FAME II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) subsidy, for which a total of 3,472 buses of subsidy equivalent is available.
CESL will then aggregate this demand and based on a rating system, STUs will be allocated their total number of buses. The aggregated demand will be tendered out for the participation of OEMs and/or operators for the discovery of prices on the basis of rupees per kilometer.
The cities to be covered under this are Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Surat, and Pune.
Mahua Acharya, MD & CEO, CESL said that the Grand Challenge is the beginnings of aggregating demand for electric buses. “It is based on an innovative, asset-light model that incentivizes the electrification of public transit. We hope that STUs will see the benefits of this exercise and come forward with their demand for buses,” Acharya added.
CESL is already running 2-wheeler and 3-wheeler EV initiatives in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
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