KOCHI: After the successful trials in capital city, the KSRTC will commence test ride of the electric bus here from Saturday. Education Minister C Raveendranath will flag off the electric bus at an event at the mobility hub at 8.30 am.The 15 day- long trial run of the electric bus had commenced in Thiruvananthapuram on June 18. It will ply on the various city routes here till June 27. On June 28, the bus will be taken to Kozhikode for trial run lasting five days.
Following this, a decision on procuring more electric buses will be taken. The bus has been built by Hyderabad-based Gold Stone Infratech which is providing it free of cost for the trial run.In Kochi, eight services have been scheduled for the electric bus starting from Aluva at 6.30 am and ending at the same place by 8.35 pm. As per the schedule drawn up by the KSRTC, the bus will start from Aluva to Fort Kochi at 6.30 am. From Fort Kochi, the bus will ply to Infopark at 8.20 am.
From Infopark the bus will head for Nedumbassery Airport at 9.50 am. From there, the bus will head for Fort Kochi at 11.40 am. From the Fort Kochi, the bus will be heading to Paravoor at 1.45 pm. The bus will ply from Paravoor to Infopark at 3.15 pm. From Infopark the bus will be heading towards Aroor at 5.10 pm. The last service from Aroor to Aluva will start at 6.30 pm. The electric bus will cover 292 km daily, covering all major city areas.
After launching the trial run of the electric bus in Thiruvananthapuram, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said the government will be rolling out 300 such buses across the state. During the trial run, the services will be operated on various terrains including the high ranges. The bus will be maintained by the KSRTC station in Aluva. The bus will be charged at night. It requires around four-five hours to get fully charged. The fully charged bus can operate for a distance of 350 km. The battery consumption for a kilometre is around 1.5-1.8 kWh. Following the trials held in Thiruvananthapuram, the electric bus recorded a profit of `7,000.