PROCUREMENT OF E-BUSES UNDER FAME II

On the basis of the sanction of a total of 5,595 e-buses in Phase I of FAME II to urban and inter-city agencies as per a UITP-India report, good progress has been achieved. The Department of Heavy Industries (DHI), which administers the scheme, has conducted 3500 bus fleet worth of tendering. It has over seen the completion of procurement process of about 2450 e-buses with subsidy. The contracting and deployment of these vehicles was taken up in late 2020 and early 2021. While the 2450 e-buses would find deployment in 13 states and 30 cities, and include a majority of ninemeter long midi-buses (they make up to 81 per cent of the total count), some of the key STU beneficiaries include BEST, Janmarg Ahmedabad and Uttar Pradesh. As per the report, the suppliers of e-buses include Foton-PMI, Olectra-BYD and Tata Motors respectively as the big three in terms of numbers.

For the nine-meter long e-buses, the maximum rate per km in approved L1 bid stands at Rs.79.8 and Rs.86 for 12 m long e-buses. The minium rate per km stands at Rs.52.2 and Rs.48.5 respectively. With the TCO of e-buses higher by 50 per cent when compared to IC engine buses, the adoption of e-buses in cities has not been a matter of choice due to unavailability of FAME II subsidy. If the transition to BSVI would have changed the equation, the UTIPIndia reports that a challenge exists in terms of range. The nine-meter long bus range is about 30 per cent lower than 12 m long e-buses. The 12 m long e-buses at the other end, have infrastructure challenges in terms of vehicle length and manoeuvrability. Calling on the need to reduce TCO drastically, the rport states the need to involve relevant stakeholders like contracting bus agencies, OEMs, operators, financing institutions and DHI. Stating the need for improvement in critical areas of terms of procurement to reduce e-bus cost, the report highlights a need to encourage higher number of bids per tender to potentially lead to reduce costs in-line with the competition among the bidders. Apart from the type of bidders, the report highlights operating experience, timelines for bid subsmission and scope of consultation, contractual obligation, subsidy bank guarantee, amount and duration, depot development among cities.