In a great stride towards electric mobility, the government of India as a part of Phase-II of FAME India Scheme has sanctioned 670 Electric buses to operate in the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat and Chandigarh and 241 Charging Stations across Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Gujarat and Port Blair.

The intercity Kadamba Transport Corporation in Goa, the intercity MSRTC and intracity Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport in Maharashtra, and intracity

Rajkot Rajpath Limited of Gujarat will get 100 e-Busses each while Surat’s Surat Municipal Corporation, which is also an intracity transport service will 150 buses – most of them all. The intracity services, Chandigarh Transport Undertaking and Mumbai’s BEST-Mumbai will get 80 and 40 e-Buses respectively. The 241 charging stations will be deployed across cities like Indore (76), Tiruchirapalli (25), Port Blair (10), Kollam (25), Thiruvananthapuram (27), Malappuram (28), and Surat (50).

The Union Heavy Industries Minister, Prakash Javadekar announced the information on Twitter, pointing out the government’s commitment to reduce dependence on fossil fuel and to address issues of vehicular emissions. His tweet said, “Happy to announce sanction of 670 e-Buses in Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, & Chandigarh and 241 Charging Stations in MP, TN, Kerala, Gujarat, and Port Blair under Phase-II of FAME India Scheme. This is in line with PM Narendra Modiji’s vision to push for eco-friendly public transportation.”

In the First Phase of the Scheme, the government by way of demand incentive had supported about 2,80,987 hybrid and electric vehicles, amounting to about Rs. 359 crore. In addition, DHIhad also sanctioned 425 electric and hybrid buses to various cities in the country with a total cost of about Rs. 280 crore. The Department of Heavy Industry had also sanctioned 520 Charging Stations for an approximate amount of Rs. 43 crore in cities like Bangalore, Chandigarh, Jaipur and NCR of Delhi.