New Delhi Apr 26 PTI Tata Motors has emerged as the lowest bidder in the mega tender for 5450 electric buses floated by Convergence Energy Services Ltd CESL under the remodelled FAME II scheme the government said on Tuesday Discovered prices of the Grand Challenge tender are between 15 per cent and 48 per cent lower than the price discovered by the cities and even at par or close to the operational cost of diesel vehicles according to official releases This tender establishes a benchmark for public transit going forward in terms of a business model It allows state agencies to purchase mobility as a service - where operators are paid a fixed price denominated as rupees per kilometre over a period of time the Heavy Industry Ministry said in a release The ministry said that the tender contains the largest ever aggregation of electric buses - 5450 buses across five major cities which have indicated their demand for electric buses The participating cities are Kolkata Delhi Bangalore Hyderabad and Surat Price bids of the tender process under the remodelled FAME II scheme for electric buses were opened by the ministry on Tuesday The rates seen in this tender are the lowest ever - with Tata Motors coming across as the least cost bidder across all five categories of electric buses contained in the tender the ministry said in a statement The Power Ministry in a release said that prices discovered are the lowest ever and more importantly at par with or very close to the operational cost of diesel buses The lowest price discovered for a 12-meter bus is Rs 4349km and a 9-meter bus is Rs 3921km This includes the cost of electricity for charging of the buses it stated The prices realized set a benchmark for public transport the price point which may encourage even small cities to adopt electric vehicles The Heavy Ministry stated that at these rates electric buses become extremely affordable across the country This public-private model has emerged as a way for cities to introduce or scale electric bus services With a burgeoning demand for mobility this model holds the potential to serve as a solution to cover the investment needs of the bus sector and ramp up bus services it said In an industry first the Grand Challenge tender homogenizes demand for electric buses - making this a step closer to standardization of modern public mobility The value of the tender is over Rs 5000 crores The buses are expected to operate around 471 billion kilometres over 12 years saving 188 billion litres of fossil fuel This will result in 331 million tonnes of CO2e from tailpipe emissions a major step towards mitigating climate change Buses will benefit from the central government subsidy offered under the remodelled FAME II scheme administered by the Ministry of Heavy Industries With the very low discovered prices under the Grand Challenge a savings of approximately Rs 361 crore of national subsidy can be realized which in turn may be utilized for additional buses The contract term is 12 years with assured kilometres of 10 lakh per bus and a credible payment security system Special emphasis was paid to the requirement for domestic content specifications for which are the highest to date At least 25000 people will be employed through this tender of which 10 per cent will be women This does not include new employment created through new manufacturing facilities In June 2021 the FAME II scheme was remodelled and its delivery mechanism changed to better suit the needs of state transport undertakings especially in their financial ability to afford electric buses The main objective of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India Phase II FAME India Phase II scheme is to encourage faster adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles by way of offering upfront incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles and also by establishing necessary charging infrastructure for EVs PTI KKS RR MR MR

New Delhi Jan 20 PTI The Delhi government will soon deploy 1500 electric buses under the Delhi Transport CorporationDTC as it aims at 100 per cent electrification of public transport fleet minister Kailash Gahlot said on ThursdayEarlier in the day Central government agency Convergence Energy Services Ltd CESL launched the biggest ever tender worth about Rs 5500 crore to procure as many as 5580 electric buses including 130 double-decker onesUnder Honble CM ArvindKejriwals vision were committed to achieve 100 electrification of buses DTC will soon be deploying 1500 ebuses as part of TheGrandChallenge ConvergenceCESL has announced RFP today Delhi will be the 1st state to adopt ebuses at such scale Gahlot tweetedThrough the Grand Challenge CESL aims to deploy 5450 single-decker buses and 130 double-decker ones in five metros The first lot of e-buses are expected to hit the roads by July this year said a statementThe CESL intends to enhance its support to state governments in achieving their electric mobility targets as well as further build an infrastructure for electric mobility in the country it saidDelhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday flagged off first e-bus of DTC being procured separately and added that 300 more such buses will join the citys public transport system by AprilThe Chief Minister had also said that 2000 electric buses will be procured by the government in coming years PTI VIT TIR TIR

New Delhi Jan 19 PTI The Delhi government signed an agreement with the CESL on Wednesday for installation of charging and battery swapping stations for electric two three and four wheelers at cluster bus depots of its Transport Department Each charging and batter swapping facilities ill be installed at 14 locations Each will include six charging points three of which will be for two and three wheelers while three points will be meant for four-wheelers he said Under the Memorandum of Understanding MoU signed by the Transport department the Convergence Energy Services Limited CESL has agreed to procure install operate and maintain charging units and related infrastructure at its cost and expense said a Transport department statement The charges for usage of location will be paid by CESL to Delhi Transport Corporation DTC every month at the rate of one rupee per kWh of energy dispensed it said If the space required by the concessionaire is more than 3 ECS Equivalent Car Space then Rs 2000 extra would be levied per ECS per month Initially the contract period is of 10 years it said According to the MoU the CESL will start the work immediately and will finish the installation of all stations in the next four months The location assessment survey at various DTC cluster bus depots at Rani Khera-I Rani Khera-II Rani Khera-III Rajghat Dilshad Garden Seema Puri Bawana Sec-1 Bawana Sec-5 Kanjhawala Kair Dichaon Kalan Dwarka Sec-22 Rewla Khanpur and Chhatarpur have been identified jointly by the department and EESL for setting up of the facility The real-time status and availability of charging points will also be available on the ONE DELHI app once installation work is complete The CESL will also reduce carbon footprint and wherever feasible will integrate solar rooftop and Battery Storage systems BSS with the installation of charging infrastructure to use renewable energy to power the charging stations the statement added PTI VIT CK

New Delhi [India], January 19 (ANI): The Delhi government on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) for providing 5 per cent interest subvention on the purchase of Electric Vehicles on loans for the purchase of selected categories of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in Delhi.

New Delhi Jan 19PTI The Delhi government on Wednesday signed an agreement with the CESL for providing 5 per cent interest subvention on loan for purchase of electric rickshaws autos carts and light goods vehicles This interest subvention scheme will help not just individual buyers but also the fleet owners deploying vehicles for e-commerce grocery or delivery industry Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said on the occasion The Memorandum of Understanding MoU was signed by Vinod Kumar Yadav Deputy Commissioner Delhi Transport department and Convergence Energy Services Limited CESL representative Polash Das in the presence of Gahlot and other senior officers of the department The 5 per cent interest subvention on loans on the purchase of electric vehicles of the particular category will be in addition to the purchase incentive of Rs 30000 and scrapping incentives of up to Rs 7500 provided under the Delhi EV Policy the Transport department said in a statement Through this scheme an electric auto and electric light commercial vehicle will be able to avail up to Rs 25000 additional benefit it said With more than 31000 electric vehicles sold since the announcement of the Delhi EV Policy in August 2020 access to attractive financing solutions and options is still one of the major deterrents for achieving the critical mass the statement said Currently the rate of interest on EVs varies from 25-30 per cent for some vehicle segments which makes owning an electric vehicle a cost-intensive proposition it said In order to ensure a transparent and smooth process to pass on the benefits to the consumers the CESL in collaboration with the Delhi government will launch an online portal for buyers to avail options to choose from several empanelled models of lithium-ion battery-operated electric three-wheelers including e-autos e-rickshaws e-carts and light goods carriers Under this partnership the CESL will empanel scheduled banks non-banking financial institutions and micro-financing institutions through an open and transparent process to provide loans to electric vehicles at attractive terms it said The empanelled financial institutions will provide loans with a minimum 80 per cent loan-to-value at interest rates of a maximum of 20 per cent including the interest subvention for a loan tenure which is in the best interest of the buyer of electric vehicles the statement said The scheme also looks forward to helping individual fleet owners or those in leading e-commerce grocery or delivery business to increase their fleet size using interest subvention for the purchase of goods carriers it added PTI VIT CK

Noida Nov 23 PTI Greater Noidas first charging station for electric vehicles EVs is likely to start in two weeks and as many as 100 such stations are planned for the city officials said on TuesdayThe Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority GNIDA said it has signed a memorandum of understanding MoU with CESL for setting up the charging stations for EVsThe first charging station is targeted to be commissioned in the next two weeks in the Alpha commercial belt the GNIDA saidIt said efforts are being made to promote electric vehicles across the country under the National Electric Mobility Scheme and Greater Noida has also joined this campaignOn instructions of GNIDA CEO Narendra Bhooshan charging stations for electric vehicles are going to be built at 100 places in Greater Noida For this the GNIDA has signed an agreement with Convergence Energy Services Limited a subsidiary of EESL on Tuesday according to an official statementThe MoU was signed in the presence of GNIDA Additional CEO Deep Chandra in-charge of commerce cell and OSD Naveen Kumar Singh and officers of CESL it addedAfter the first charging station in the Alpha commercial belt GNIDA and CESL teams will conduct a joint survey to identify the locations of the remaining installations and will submit a report in 10 days the GNIDA saidThese charging stations to be built in collaboration with CESL will bring great convenience to electric vehicle drivers GNIDA CEO Narendra Bhooshan saidCESL MD and CEO Mahua Acharya said Greater Noida is one of the major industrial cities of Asia with ample opportunities to promote electric vehicles PTI KIS IJT