NITI Aayog launched “e-Sawari India E-Bus Coalition” partnering with CESL and WRI
Goal of “e-Sawari India E-Bus Coalition” is to share knowledge and learning about the adoption of e-buses in India among various stakeholders…
NITI Aayog, a government think tank, launched the e-Sawaari India Electric Bus Coalition on Tuesday. The coalition was launched by Niti Aayog partnering with Convergence Energy Services Ltd. (CESL) and World Resources Institute, India (WRI India) along with Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) support.
In launching the coalition, the goal is to share knowledge and learnings about the adoption of e-buses in India among various stakeholders including the central and state governments, city-level government agencies, transit services, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and financing institutions.
At the launch of the project, Amitabh Kant, CEO of the NITI Aayog, stated that electrification of public transportation, especially the bus sector, was critical to India’s efforts to achieve decarbonization.
The e-Sawaari India Electric Bus Coalition will ensure the steady and paced electrification of the bus system in India, he said in a statement.
To achieve net zero emissions, it is crucial to identify innovative ways to manage procurement, operations, and financing of e-bus deployment at scale, he added.
It has encouraged more state government undertakings to adopt electric buses on account of the recent initiative by the Centre to aggregate e-bus demand from the nine largest Indian cities as part of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India (FAME) scheme Phase – II, through the ongoing Grand Challenge for the Deployment of e-Buses project.
In addition to state transport undertakings and original equipment manufacturers, CESL CEO Mahua Acharya believes that multiple players should enter the electric bus ecosystem – be they financiers, banks, IT service providers, or utility companies.
For electric buses to scale up, an enabling ecosystem will be crucial for accessing funding and financing, she added.
The WRI India CEO stated that the scale-up of e-bus adoption requires a way to overcome procurement, operational, and financial challenges. He added that the e-Sawaari coalition will facilitate discussion and help identify innovative solutions.
TUMI E-Bus Mission Asia Co-ordinator Rohan Shailesh Modi said that the e-Saawari India electric bus coalition aims to revitalize India’s e-bus sector by bringing cities, private sector, and financiers together to address sector challenges.
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