Giving a big thrust to the adoption of electric buses for public transport in the country,
Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Energy Efficiency
Services Limited (EESL),today announced the floating of the‘Grand Challenge’– a set of
homogenized demand for electric buses aggregated across nine cities.
Sharing her views about the Grand Challenge, Mahua Acharya, MD & CEO, CESL said the
Grand Challenge is the beginnings of aggregating demand for electric buses. It is based on an
innovative, asset-light model that incentivizes the electrification of public transit. We hope that
STUs will see the benefits of this exercise and come forward with their demand for buses.
In his inaugural address, Sh. Amitabh Kant, CEO- NITI Aayog said, “NITI Aayog is giving
full support to all measures aimed at boosting innovation, efficiency and investments in the
automobile sector, especially to bring down the initial upfront cost of EVs. The transition to EVs
is inevitable and CESL is working effectively in that direction. It is very clear that India will lead
the drive to change and become a leader in transition mobility across the globe. We need to adopt
an indigenous route for EVs, develop a robust supply chain and reduce dependence on imports
from China. Manufacturers in India should understand the changing dynamics of the automobile
industry and exploit the opportunity to lead the disruptive change. It is high time that mass
adoption is undertaken and nothing better than the mass public transport system to ensure that. It
is imperative for us to introduce new strategies for reduction of vehicular emissions and
dependence on fossil fuels. The tender for 3742 e-buses is a big step towards this mission of
Energy Independence as propagated by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. In light of the COP26 at
Glasgow, it is another step in our commitment to achieve the goals set for climate change
agenda.”
The Grand Challenge invites State Transport Undertakings (STUs) to express their demand for
electric buses and access the FAME II subsidy, for which a total of 3472 buses of subsidy
equivalent is available. CESL will then aggregate this demand and based on a rating system,
STUs will be allocated their total number of buses. The aggregated demand will be tendered out
for the participation of OEMs and/or operators for the discovery of prices on the basis of rupees
per kilometer.
The cities to be covered under this “Grand Challenge” are Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore,
Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Surat, and Pune.
Through the Grand Challenge, CESL intends to enhance its support to state governments in
achieving their electric mobility targets and further build an infrastructure for electric mobility in
the country.This tender is seen as a big step in the series of initiatives to fulfill the commitments
made by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi for making India a Net Zero nation by 2050 and
getting closer to achievingEnergy Independence by 2047.
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