Tata Motors has swept the largest 5,450 electric bus tender worth Rs 5,000 crore, under which prices of the vehicles dropped by almost 40%. As per the sources, the company was the lowest bidder for all five categories of the tender floated by Convergence Energy Services Ltd, which is a subsidiary of state-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. (EESL).
Companies that participated in the bidding
Other bidders who participated were Switch Mobility (the electric vehicle arm of Ashok Leyland), Evey Trans of the Olectra Group and VECV (a joint venture between Volvo Group and Eicher Motors) for the tender under Centre’s FAME II scheme, as per the sources. The sources stated that there was a margin of about Rs. 10 between L1 and L2 bidders in all the categories.
Bidding was done in five categories
The bidding was done in five categories – 12 meter low floor AC and non AC e-buses, 12 meter standard floor non-AC and 9 meter standard floor AC and non-AC.
Tata Motors quoted Rs 47.49/km per vehicle for the 12m low-floor AC e-bus and Rs 43.49/km for 12-m low-floor non- AC e-buses. Tata Motors bid Rs 44.99/km for each 12-m standard floor AC e-bus. Switch Mobility stood as L2 for three categories by bidding Rs 53.99/km.
Tata Motors bid Rs 41.45/km for each 9m standard floor AC e-bus and Rs 39.21/km for the same size non-AC e-bus.
Evey Trans stood as L2 for 9m e-bus. It quoted Rs 54.27/km for the AC category and Rs 53.12/km for non-AC category.
These buses will help in alleviating climate change
The CESL statement stated that the value of the tender is more than Rs 5,000 crore. The buses are expected to operate around 4.71 billion km over twelve years which is going to save 1.88 billion litres of fossil fuel. This is going to result in 3.31 million tonnes of CO2e from tailpipe emissions, a big step towards alleviating climate change.
The buses gain from the central government subsidy offered under the remodeled FAME II scheme administered by the Ministry of Heavy Industries.
The contract term is 12 years, with guaranteed kilometers of 10 lakh per bus, and a trustworthy payment security system. The tender process was started in July 2021. Nine cities are eligible to get subsidies under the remodeled FAME II Scheme. Of the nine cities, five participated in this tender.