NEW DELHI: Spread over 4.57 acres, this depot at Mundhela Kalan has 32 DC fast chargers and 100 parking bays for electric buses, apart from four service and two dry pits. The Delhi government is likely to roll out 100 e-buses next week from here. Currently, two e-buses have been running in the city, which were launched on trial, and officials said the response had been good.
According to officials, the buses operating from the first electric depot in west Delhi will connect areas such as Najafgarh, Dhansa Border, Azadpur, Tilak Nagar, Lado Sarai, Manglapuri, Moti Nagar, Nehru Place, ISBT Kashmere Gate and Old Delhi Railway Station. “You will soon find e-buses running on different routes. This is going to transform the public transport system in the city in the same way the low-floor AC and non-AC buses did ahead of the Commonwealth Games,” said an official.
Another bus depot to house electric buses is almost ready at Rohini Sector 37, with more than half of the proposed 48 EV chargers already commissioned.
According to officials, the government has planned six e-bus depots and the work started in 2019. While two of them are ready, the remaining four, located in East Vinod Nagar, Burari, Sarai Kale Khan and Bamnauli, are under-construction. The government has decided to include 2,000 e-buses in the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) fleet in the next few years, while 330 such vehicles will be run under the Cluster Scheme.
The first e-bus in the DTC fleet had come with zero tailpipe emissions. The electric buses have kneeling ramps for differently-abled passengers and special pink seats for women commuters. Each bus is also equipped with CCTV cameras, 10 panic buttons and a hooter, and connected with the two-way central command and control centre (CCC) at Kashmere Gate. These buses can get charged in one to one and a half hours on a fast charger and can run for a minimum of 120 kilometres after a single charge.
The first prototype electric bus was flagged off by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in January this year, which also became the first new bus being added to the DTC fleet in over a decade.
Though 100 e-buses arrived in the capital some time ago, there is a two-step process that must be completed before the public transport vehicles can be deployed on different routes of DTC. They are initially operated on a small, circular route before being deployed on regular routes.
The DTC Board had already provided approval to induct 1,500 electric buses and 75 CNG buses for interstate services procurement of 921 buses under the Grand Challenge Scheme of Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL), which comes under FAME-II category, and the remaining 579 buses under non FAME-II category.
