Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday flagged off in the virtual mode 25 new type-1 electric buses of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) for Mandi district from the Paddal ground.
He said that the state government had procured 297 type-1 electric buses to expand the HRTC’s electric bus fleet. These new electric buses are at present operating in Shimla, Nahan, Nalagarh, Una, Haroli, Bilaspur, Dehra, Hamirpur, Palampur, Dharamsala and Nagrota.
“The required vehicle charging infrastructure has been developed in Kullu, Mandi and Sundernagar and these new electric bus services started operating in these areas on Monday,” he added.
He said that the prescribed driving range of the type-1 electric buses was around 180 km at 80 per cent state of charge. He added that the performance of these buses during operations had been highly encouraging.
“On the Shimla-Chandigarh route, an electric bus is successfully covering a distance of around 270 km on a single charge, demonstrating the suitability of electric buses for long-distance inter-city routes across the challenging hilly terrain of the state,” he claimed.
Sukhu said that the operation of electric buses was significantly reducing the HRTC’s operational cost. Compared to conventional diesel buses, the electric buses were resulting in the saving of around Rs 12 to Rs 13 per km in energy costs.
This would not only reduce the HRTC’s fuel and operational expenses but also improve the overall efficiency of public transport services.
“The state government has set a target of making the HRTC self-reliant within the next five years,” he added. The government had planned to procure 1,000 more electric buses and 200 hydrogen-powered buses in the coming years, he asserted.
