CESL floats tender for 5,690 electric buses as first tranche of NEBP

Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) on Thursday announced floating a tender for deployment of 5,690 electric buses.

This is the first tender under the National Electric Bus Programme which aims to effect the deployment of 50,000 e-buses across the country, CESL said in statement.

"After the success of grand challenge based tender for 5,450 e-buses, CESL announces a tender has been floated for another 5,690 e-buses. This unified tender calling for proposals for the provision of mobility services benefits from the participation of Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Telangana and Arunachal Pradesh," it said.

The tender is based on terms and conditions standardised through the grand challenge process. It contains demand for three types of e-buses 7m, 9m and 12m -- on a gross cost contracting basis, requesting bidders to quote a price per kilometer for operating services over 12 years -- a model that is quickly becoming a standard in India.

According to the power ministry, the 'grand challenge' tender homogenises demand for electric buses, making this a step closer to standardisation of modern public mobility.

In the company statement, Mahua Acharya, MD and CEO of Convergence Energy Services Limited, said: "I remain incredibly grateful for the participation and collaboration of the five states in this tender, of which three were closely involved in building the foundation defined in the grand challenge. At a national level, I am very encouraged by the demand for e-buses and appeal to suppliers to enhance production and financiers to come forth. I am also very happy that Arunachal Pradesh has joined us."

The announcement of this tender is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's international commitments to make India a net-zero nation by 2070, and to get closer to achieving energy independence by 2047. The bidders of this tender will benefit from all financial incentives offered by state governments, it said.

CESL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), under the power ministry.