Government Sanctions 5,595 Electric Buses Under FAME-II Scheme

The government has sanctioned 5,595 electric buses in 64 cities for intracity and intercity operations under the second phase of FAME India scheme in order to push for clean mobility in public transportation, an official release said.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises had invited expression of interest from cities with million-plus population, smart cities, state or union territory capitals and special category states for submission of proposal for deployment of electric buses on operational cost basis.

During the process, the Department of Heavy Industry received 86 proposals from 26 states or UTs for the deployment of 14,988 e-buses.

After evaluation of these proposals as per Expression of Interest, on the advice of Project Implementation and Sanctioning Committee, the government sanctioned 5,095 electric buses to 64 cities or state transport corporations for intra-city operation, 400 electric buses for intercity operation and 100 electric buses for last mile connectivity to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, an official release said.

Each selected city or state transport undertaking is now required to initiate the procurement process in a time bound manner for deployment of sanctioned electric buses on operational cost basis, it added.

As per EoI, buses which satisfy required localisation level and technical eligibility notified under FAME India scheme phase II will be eligible for funding under FAME India scheme phase II, release added.

The buses are expected to run about 4 billion kilometers during their contract period and are expected to save cumulatively about 1.2 billion liters of fuel over the contract period, which will result into avoidance of 2.6 million tonne of CO2 emission.

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