Currently, BEST has 386 electric buses operating in the city. The organisation also has midi electric buses that are used on its feeder routes
With an aim to gradually electrify its entire fleet, the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) has issued tenders for procuring 1,900 fully electric buses.
In what could be termed as one of the biggest electric bus fleet expansions in the country, the tenders in the upcoming for procuring 200 double-deckers, which will also be fully electric as per a media reports.
“A tender notice has been issued and bidders have been called. A detailed proposal on the requirement and the time frame of procurement will be discussed with the bidders. The earlier electric buses were procured under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles (FAME)-2 scheme,” said a senior BEST official.
Revealing that the authority wants to electrify nearly 50 per cent of its fleet by 2023, BEST general manager Lokesh Chandra added, “We have floated the tender for 1,900 buses which will include 1,400 full-length buses of 12 metres, 100 Minibuses and 400 Midi buses.”
The maximum period, as per the tender notice, for procuring the 1,900 buses is one-and-a-half years, with 25 per cent new electric bus procurement (475 buses) for Mumbai in six months, 25 per cent in the next six months and 50 per cent thereafter.
Currently, BEST has 386 electric buses operating in the city. The organisation also has midi electric buses that are used on its feeder routes.
In August, BEST had introduced 24 electric buses. The organisation is also constructing electric vehicle charging stations in its bus depots, while such stations have already been set up at Dharavi and Worli depots.
Maharashtra’s EV policy calls for the public transport undertaking maintaining a 15 per cent fleet as ‘electric’ by 2025.
