CESL Launches Grand Challenge for E-Buses Deployment in 9 Cities

In an attempt to boost 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), has announced the ‘Grand Challenge’ – a set of homogenized demand for electric buses aggregated across nine cities.

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 3,472 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 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.

“CESL said the Grand Challenge is the beginning of aggregating demand for electric buses. It is based on an innovative, asset-light model that incentivises the electrification of public transit. We hope that STUs will see the benefits of this exercise and come forward with their demand for buses,” said Mahua Acharya, MD & CEO.

She further added, “The Grand Challenge will certainly encourage the faster transition to green mobility across the country while creating a synergy between private operators and state governments. We are already running successful 2-wheeler and 3-wheeler EV initiatives in states like Kerala and Andhra Pradesh and are optimistic that this new development will further our goal to attain transformation to EVs from fossil fuels in the coming years throughout the country”.

Acharya further acknowledged USAID’s SPARC programme for their continuous support to CESL’s e-mobility initiative.