CESL finds lower-than-estimated prices in 10,900 e-bus tender
The Centre's Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL) reported lower-than-expected prices in a 10,900 e-bus tender for five cities. PMI Electro Mobility is the largest winner, securing 5,120 buses. The tender progresses despite ongoing disputes and a shortage of trained electric bus drivers.
NEW DELHI: The Union government’s demand aggregation agency, Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL), has discovered prices lower than earlier estimates for the massive 10,900 electric bus tender covering five cities under the PM E-Drive scheme, even as a dispute raised by Ashok Leyland's subsidiary OHM Global Mobility over its inability to bid remains unresolved.
A CESL statement Wednesday evening said that the tendering process had concluded with the opening of 14 technically qualified bidders, out of the 16 bids received in total. “The financial bids of 14 technically qualified bidders were opened. The rates discovered are attractive and lower than the estimates," the CESL said.
CESL did not share the rates discovered in this tender, but said they would be sent to participating cities Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Delhi, and Surat. The respective city transport undertakings would then award the tenders to manufacturers, operators, and consortia.
According to an industry executive directly aware of the matter, PMI Electro Mobility has emerged as the biggest winner in this tender, with a contract to supply 5,210 e-buses. EKA Mobility has got orders for 3,485 e-buses while Olectra Greentech will supply 1,785 e-buses. The remainder 420 e-buses were allocated to an Anthony Travels consortium.
Each contract will be long-term, with the winning companies supplying and operating the e-buses and being paid on a per-kilometre basis.
Mint reported earlier on 1 November that PMI, EKA and Olectra were eyeing this tender. EKA confirmed the development to Mint. PMI, and Olectra did not immediately respond to Mint's queries.
A government official told Mint on the condition of anonymity that prices discovered vary for each city, and are lower by about 5-15% than previously estimated. The official also said that the tender would move ahead without OHM Global Mobility, despite the continuing lawsuit.
Under the PM E-Drive scheme, the government provides a subsidy of at least ₹25 lakh per e-bus, targeting 14,028 such zero-emission buses across nine cities with populations above 4 million: Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Surat, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune.
T Surya Kiran, former executive director of Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU) said that the average price for 12-metre bus operation within a city is about ₹70-78 per kilometer, while that for 9-metre buses is ₹62-70 per kilometer. In CESL's earlier tenders for intra-city e-buses, the price discovered was about ₹50-56 per kilometer. “Anything below ₹60 for this tender is good," he said, adding that each intra-city electric bus runs about 200-250 kilometers in a day.
ASRTU is the top coordinating body of India's state-run public bus transport operators.
PMI has a capacity to make 3,000 electric buses a year at its plant in Dharuhera, Haryana, which it is expanding to more than 15,000 e-buses by establishing an another plant in Neemrana. EKA has two plants in Pune, and is building a third one in Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh. Its capacity by the end of this fiscal will reach 500 e-buses a month, or, 6,000 e-buses in a year. Olectra has a plant on the outskirts of Hyderabad, with a target to expand production capacity to 10,000 units a year by next year.
Mint reported earlier that this tender, one of the largest for e-buses in India, had been delayed by at least three months before it opened for bids in November.
This tender assumes importance because it is a part of the PM E-Drive scheme's biggest component—e-buses. The scheme has allocated ₹4,391 crore or nearly 40% of its total ₹10,900-crore outlay towards putting 14,028 new e-buses on the road in nine cities—those mentioned above along with Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, and Kolkata.
Bengaluru is expected to receive around 4,500 buses, Delhi about 2,800 buses, Hyderabad approximately 2,000 buses, while Ahmedabad and Surat together will induct around 1,600 buses under this tender.
In the next tender for the remaining buses, the government will incentivise 1,500 new e-buses in Mumbai and 1,000 in Pune, as well as another 200 buses each in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
But even as the process for rolling out e-buses under the scheme continues, there is a shortage of trained drivers. The lack of upskilled manpower to drive electric buses is a serious concern, said Kiran. “The present operations under public-private partnerships across the country are facing a severe shortage of drivers. There is no training curriculum for electric bus drivers and very few facilities for upskilling," he said.
topics
