Thiruvananthapuram: Even as the Kerala government is vigorously pursuing a Rs 4,500-crore e-mobility project to introduce electric buses in association with a Swiss major, it has come to light that it had earlier shelved a Union government scheme offering 250 such environment-friendly vehicles.

As per the Rs 10,000-crore central scheme, the Department of Heavy Industry proposed to manufacture e-vehicles in the country and lease them out for public transport. Based on the population density of select cities, the Centre proposed to provide 100 e-buses each to Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi, and 50 for Kozhikode on lease under the scheme christened Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric (FAME-2) Vehicles in India.

The central project mandated that only e-buses manufactured in India can be included.

For the execution of the e-mobility project, the Kerala government had signed an agreement with the Swiss company, HESS, in June last year for manufacturing 3,000 e-buses in the state in a joint venture with Kerala Automobiles (KAL), a state-owned company.

Losing proposition

The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC)  prefers to take e-buses on a lease as the overall costs entailed for them didn't make sense.  An e-bus comes for around Rs 2 crore, i.e., around 3-4 times higher than a diesel bus. After the typical five-year guarantee period for battery gets over, then huge amounts would be needed for carrying out the maintenance of each bus. Hence, currently, the KSRTC conducts services with eight e-buses that were taken on lease.

The lease rate too is not economically feasible. For a distance of 400km or more, Rs 43.20 has to be paid as lease to the bus supplier for every kilometre. If the distance is less than 400km, the rate will go up. If the bus travels less than 200km, then the lease rate will increase up to Rs 75. Apart from this, KSRTC's expenses for running an e-bus include those for the salary of the driver and conductor, and for power consumption.

When Kerala invited Expression of Interest for this project, companies such as Tata and Eicher came forward with proposals on lease rates of Rs 79 and Rs 80 per kilometre. Even at this rate, it was estimated the KSRTC would suffer a loss of Rs 26 per km. Of this, Rs 8 per km will be given as subsidy by the Centre. The state has to bear only the remaining expenses. However, the Kerala Finance Department did not approve the proposals and subsequently, the project has been shelved since August 2019.

Around 26-30 people can travel in an e-bus with no standing passengers allowed. The bus fare cannot be increased either. The KSRTC estimates a loss of Rs 20-24 per kilometre. The government had informed the Assembly that Rs 7,146 will be the loss for one bus per day.