Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation

electric bus

charging station

(KSRTC) is set to have its electric buses running to four destinations in Karnataka. The four routes that have been finalised are — Bengaluru to Mysuru, Bengaluru to Davanagere, Bengaluru to Tumakuru and Bengaluru to Shivamogga.A senior KSRTC official said, “The buses will run only after being 100% charged. Eachcan run up to 250 km with a full charge. There will be oneeach on the starting point in Bengaluru and on the destination bus stop. Additionally there will be one charging station each on all these four routes to charge the buses.”According to KSRTC officials, since the present diesel run Airavat Volvo buses have become old and need to be replaced, these e-buses will replace them on the four routes. The bus fares for e-buses are expected to be the same as that of the Volvo bus services. Each e-bus takes 4-5 hours to charge completely. He explains, “The distance between Bengaluru and Shivamogga is 267 km. The drivers will ensure that the buses are fully charged before taking passengers.”As of now, Shanthinagar has been decided as the stop which will have electric charging stations installed. However, the location is likely to change in the future. Recently, KSRTC had called tenders for procuring 400 electric buses, out of which 300 would be for BMTC, 50 for KSRTC and 50 for NWKRTC will be distributed under the Centre’s FAME II scheme.KSRTC expects to get the e-buses running in the city by February or March 2020. These buses are being procured from electric bus manufacturing company Olectra.