Moneycontrol Moderator
February 17, 2020 / 09:36 IST
Maharashtra's first inter-city electric bus service rolled out on February 14 with the inauguration of Mumbai to Pune service.
Operated by Prasanna Purple Mobility Solutions, which runs more than 1,300 vehicles, there will be two services a day, starting February 15.
Prasanna Purple has already set up charging station for buses at Pune and Mumbai and a fully charged bus can travel for 300 kms with a cruise speed of up to 100kms top speed. Charging takes 90 mins for a full charge.
The bus has a capacity of 43 seats with push back feature, in-built USB chargers and luggage space. Mumbai and Pune is separated by 170kms. Both the cities have electric buses running within the cities.
Initially two buses will be plying, which will be increased to six later.
Prasanna Patwardhan, chairman and managing director, Prasana Purple said, "This new move in EV space give us another opportunity to serve customers. We also plan to extend this service to other routes within Maharashtra and adjacent states in due course".
The Mumbai to Pune bus route is catered by close to 200 buses everyday including those run by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) which runs the popular Shivneri airconditioned bus service.
These buses are made by Gurgaon-based Mozev which has a tie-up a Chinese company. The chassis and the battery are imported by Mozev in parts before being put together at the plant in Jaipur whose capacity is 25 buses a month.
Mozev had tied up with MSRTC last year to roll out electric buses under the service Shivai. However, the service never began operations.
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