VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada division officials of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) have designed a preliminary route map for introducing electric buses for city and suburban operations. Under the initiative, senior APSRTC officials recently inspected cities where electric buses are operating and studied their route maps.
According to RTC officials, the Central Government has sanctioned 300 electric buses to the Corporation as part of phase-II of FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India). Of these, 100 buses were allotted to Visakhapatnam, 50 to Vijayawada and 50 each for Amaravati, Kakinada and Tirupati. The officials concerned have decided to invite tenders from electric bus manufacturing companies by the end of August. In this regard, a few days ago, RTC vice-chairman and managing director NV Surendra Babu, toured Hyderabad and studied the electric buses introduced by TSRTC.
Apart from that, the VC and MD also inspected the Ashok Leyland Bus body manufacturing unit at Malavalli Industrial Park in the district and requested them to come up with electric bus designs suitable for city operations in Vijayawada and Amaravati. Two special teams headed by executive directors in the corporation have decided to inspect electric bus manufacturing units in Lucknow and Pune, to study all possibilities and suitable technology for Vijayawada and Amaravati region. A detailed report will be prepared by the officials concerned and the same would be presented before the committee constituted by the government for introducing electric buses.
When contacted, APSRTC executive director, KVRK Prasad, said, “If everything goes according to our plans, tenders for procuring 300 electric buses would be floated soon. We conducted a meeting with bus manufacturers, where major players like Ashok Leyland, Gold Stone and Oldex participated and showed interest to quote tenders for manufacturing electric buses for our RTC.”
Proposed battery charging stations: Vidyadharapuram and Gannavaram Bus depots
Destinations to which the buses are proposed to ply (From Vijayawada) Gannavaram, Pamarru, Hanuman Junction, Guntur, Amaravati, Mylavaram and Vissannapeta
Charging duration and mileage
Once charged for 4 hours, it will run for 250-270 kms