B Sriramulu, Karnataka Transport Minister, stated that the state government plans to convert all 35,000 buses to electric vehicles by 2030. The Minister was responding during question hour to Tanveer Sait, a Congress MLA.
“There are about 35,000 buses, there is a demand to make all buses electric, keeping in mind environment and pollution-related concerns. With diesel prices increasing, we are incurring losses. We want all our buses to become electric and we start making profits.. discussions are on in this regard,” Sriramulu said.Â
“It is our endeavour that all our buses become electric by 2030. We will make all efforts so that all the 35,000 buses will be converted to electric by 2030,” he said, adding that diesel buses cost Rs 68.53 per km.
The Minister stated that the BMTC, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation does not buy electric buses but operates them on a contractual basis. According to him, BMTC is operating 90 electric buses under the Smart City Project since December 2021, for 12 years under a ‘Gross Cost Contract’. The per-kilometre cost of these buses is Rs 64.67.
300 electric buses were ordered under the FAME II scheme. 75 of these buses are now in operation. The per-kilometre cost of these buses is Rs. 61.90. He also noted that the Centre’s FAME II program has issued an order last month to operate 921 electric buses via Convergence Energy Services Limited. The per-kilometre cost of these buses is Rs 54.