Tata Motors lowest bidder for mega electric bus tender
New Delhi: Tata Motors has emerged as the lowest bidder in the mega tender for 5,450 electric buses floated by Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL) under the remodelled FAME II scheme, the government said on Tuesday.
Discovered prices of the Grand Challenge tender are between 15 per cent and 48 per cent lower than the price discovered by the cities and even at par or close to the operational cost of diesel vehicles, according to official releases.
This tender establishes a benchmark for public transit going forward in terms of a business model. It allows state agencies to purchase mobility as a service - where operators are paid a fixed price denominated as rupees per kilometre over a period of time, the Heavy Industry Ministry said in a release.
The ministry said that the tender contains the largest ever aggregation of electric buses - 5,450 buses across five major cities which have indicated their demand for electric buses. The participating cities are Kolkata, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Surat. Price bids of the tender process under the remodelled FAME II scheme for electric buses were opened by the ministry on Tuesday.
"The rates seen in this tender are the lowest ever - with Tata Motors coming across as the least cost bidder across all five categories of electric buses contained in the tender," the ministry said in a statement.
The Power Ministry in a release said that prices discovered are the lowest ever and more importantly, at par with or very close to the operational cost of diesel buses. The lowest price discovered for a 12-meter bus is Rs 43.49/km, and a 9-meter bus is Rs 39.21/km. This includes the cost of electricity for charging of the buses, it stated.
The prices realized set a benchmark for public transport, the price point which may encourage even small cities to adopt electric vehicles. The Heavy Ministry stated that at these rates, electric buses become extremely affordable across the country .
This public-private model has emerged as a way for cities to introduce or scale electric bus services. agencies
