INDIA – The Grand Challenge tender comprises demand for electric buses across five major Indian cities – Kolkata, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Surat.

Express Mobility has announced that Convergence Energy Services (CESL), a subsidiary of the Energy Efficiency Services (EESL) together with World Resources Institute India (WRI) has been contemplating speeding up the deployment of 50,000 electric buses in the country by 2030.

The Grand Challenge tender comprises demand for electric buses across five major Indian cities – Kolkata, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Surat. The prices realized set a benchmark for public transport, the price point for which may encourage even the smaller cities to adopt electric vehicles.

According to Express Mobility, the rationale behind the move is not just about being environmentally friendly. Mahua Acharya, MD & CEO at CESL, insisted on the practicality of the ‘mobility-as-a-service’ business model. Indicating the lowest-ever prices being up to 27 percent cheaper as compared to the diesel-based buses, she explained that “State transport undertakings benefit more from bigger tender buckets as that allows for lower price discovery for procurement and operation of electric buses in India.”

Source: Express Mobility