Thiruvananthapuram: The profitable operation of 10 electric buses during the just concluded peak Mandala pilgrimage season has made it easy to view with less suspicion the Budget announcement that all the services in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation would be changed to electric buses. However, given the conditions, it looks like the government will have to privatise public transport if it wants a large fleet of electric buses in the capital city.

The 10 electric buses that did the Nilakkal-Pamba-Nilakkal rotation trips during the Sabarimala season were not from the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) fleet, but taken on lease from a Maharashtra-based company named Edison Electra. The lease is for a year. Now that the Sabarimala season is over, these buses are getting ready to operate along the Thiruvananthapuram-Kochi route.

Three charging stations have been planned along the route; at Harippad, Alappuzha and Kochi. The stations will be powered by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) transformers, like the one at Nilakkal that serviced the 10 e-buses during the Sabarimala season. “The Harippad and Alappuzha charging stations are almost ready because we already have a KSEB transformer within the bus terminal at Harippad,” said KSRTC executive engineer (technical) G P Pradeep Kumar.

Quick charge, long distances

These will be fast-charging stations where the bus could be charged in less than three hours. The fast-charging station at Nilakkal, which has now been dismantled, could serve six buses at a time. Vehicles can also be slow-charged by plugging on to the familiar 15-amps socket which is commonly used to recharge mobile phones. Most small e-cars that now ply our roads use this humble connection point. Problem is, it will take nearly nine hours to recharge its battery.

Once fully charged, these e-buses can run for 250 kms, which is more than the distance between Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi. “We did have a trial run and we found that the bus could easily reach Kochi without running out of battery power. It is by way of caution that we are having two more fast-charging points in between,” the executive engineer said.

Easy on the lungs, easy on the purse

It is widely known that e-vehicles are pollution free. They do not have a toxic exhaust, and are silent. The KSRTC has huge economic gains, too. If the diesel cost works out to Rs 30 a kilometre, an electric bus needs under one kilo watt for a kilometre. The KSEB offers power at the rate of Rs 5.75 per kilo watt. Maintenance costs are also low. The KSRTC pays the private company Rs 43.20 for every kilometre. The maintenance cost of an AC deluxe bus is Rs 80 per kilometre, and that of an ordinary bus is Rs 60. So while a normal KSRTC bus would cost over Rs 90 a kilometre (Rs 60 maintenance charge plus Rs 30 fuel charge), an electric bus costs Rs 48.95 a kilometre. What's more, the KSRTC need not bother about salaries or pensions as the crew, including the driver, is provided by the private company.

Hitch with 'go green' drive

But the cost of operating e-vehicles remains favourable only when the buses are on lease. If the KSRTC was to own an electric bus, then it will have to contend with the battery cost. Now a bus battery costs anywhere between Rs 50 to Rs 60 lakh. As it stands, the life of such a battery does not go beyond five years. Such a mammoth recurring cost for a fleet of e-buses could flatten a corporation that has already found its back broken by financial stress.

So when Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac announced that all buses in the capital city would be electric, he perhaps meant that public transport in Thiruvananthapuram would be privatised.