homeauto NewsPublic buses going electric in Mumbai, Bengaluru; Ashok Leyland, Eicher Motors eye opportunity
Public buses going electric in Mumbai, Bengaluru; Ashok Leyland, Eicher Motors eye opportunity
Mumbai has announced that the city will get 1,900 fully electric buses to add to its electric public transport fleet and could soon have the largest electric vehicle public transport fleet in India. What does this mean for EV bus manufacturers like Ashok Leyland and Eicher Motors, CNBC-TV18 spoke to Mahesh Babu CEO, Switch Mobility-Ashok Leyland and Akash Passey President-Bus division VECV-Eicher Motors.
Mumbai has announced that the city will get 1,900 fully electric buses to add to its electric public transport fleet and could soon have the largest electric vehicle public transport fleet in India. What does this mean for EV bus manufacturers like Ashok Leyland and Eicher Motors? CNBC-TV18 spoke to Mahesh Babu CEO, Switch Mobility-Ashok Leyland and Akash Passey President-Bus division VECV-Eicher Motors.
Mahesh Babu said there is a strong urge in converting the public bus transport particularly in the cities to electric mobility.
"I think the Maharashtra EV policy was very progressive and if you look at it there is a clear direction that 25 percent of buses in about 6 cities will get converted into electric. I think it gives a huge opportunity for electric manufacturers like Ashok Leyland and Switch Mobility," he said.
Recently, Ashok Leyland won the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation tender for 300 non-AC electric buses.
“Ashok Leyland has already about 100 plus buses in the market and with Switch Mobility there is a clear focus in the group that we want to play a vital role in electric mobility both in buses as well as going forward in electric light commercial vehicle (eLCV), he added.
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Akash Passey of Eicher Motors acknowledged that going electric is the future as far as urban transport is concerned. However, he said that immediate attention was needed on boosting the charging infrastructure to avoid post-roll-out roadblocks.
"Places like Europe and China have their roadmap over the last 10 years of experience laid out for charging where they have some commonality and they made some policy announcements where the charging infrastructure is communalised. In India, we still don't have that we are moving towards that and that is something which we expect the government to do,” he stressed.
Also Read: Auto PLI scheme for electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles cleared by Union Cabinet
The industry knows that keeping costs under check is also another challenge.
"Nowadays batteries and the electric technology is very reliable and it runs for 10 to 12 years. So we plan a very clear advantage. The operating cost is now low and so there is a viable business model for the industry,” Babu said.
For full interview, watch the accompanying video...
(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)
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