Abstract:

Private stage carriage bus operators across the country ferry 150 million people daily! With a majority of them operating in the non-urban sector, these operators provide critical and affordable public transport linkages across the regions. However, the rising fuel (diesel/ CNG) prices significantly threaten their current business. The Key Highlights of the study includes, under prevailing loan conditions, 95 per cent of e-bus owners will face significantly higher challenges than diesel bus owners, during the loan repayment period of 4-7 years. Mofussil routes, less than 120 km across the plains (terrain), are profitable for standard 12 metre (12m) long and midi 9 metre (9m) AC e-buses. Longer routes (greater than 120 km) are not profitable for operating e-buses if vehicle utilisation is less than 400 km per day. Current bus models' battery capacities are insufficient for longer route lengths. Both mofussil and long hilly routes are profitable for 9m e-bus operations. E-buses on hilly routes have significantly lower cost per km (CPKs) than diesel buses, due to downhill regenerative braking. For the uptake of e-buses in the private bus sector, the study recommends incentivising through interest rate subvention at 4-6 per cent for a loan term of seven years and hypothecation of e-buses. It also recommends creating leasing markets for e-buses by nudging financers, Non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) and other banking institutions.