Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) after a month of trial of 12 electric buses called ‘Circuit’ is now in the process of preparing an expression of interest (EOI) document for bidders interested in operating 300 electric buses in Ahmedabad says a report.
According to ET this is the first step towards electric mobility in Ahmedabad. Senior officers in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) point out that the Union government’s Rs 10,000 crore national corpus for Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) programme is the key driver for the project.
After the EOI, the work on preparing the tender documents is on, including working out a methodology for bids and their cost analysis and technical qualification said the official to the publication.
The senior AMC official said “The methodology will also involve inspections at the chasis and prototype stages, where the bus maker-cum-operator will have to compete.”
He added, “Electric buses are evolving and as the years go by we expect to have better battery technology. We are looking for buses that can navigate through the city’s residential areas as well.”
The official also added that the department of heavy industry (DHI) had invited expressions of interest (EoI) for availing of incentives under Fame-II, to deploy 5,000 electric buses on operational-cost-model basis.