Ensuring that public transportation vehicles toe the non-polluting line, the Brihan Mumbai Electricity Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) deployed 10 state-of-the-art 9-Meter (eBuzz K7) electric buses procured from Olectra-BYD. This deployment is a part of its 40 AC & non-AC bus order on Gross Cost Contract basis. This lot of buses follows the successful trial deployment of 6 electric buses of 9-meter length (eBuzz K7) in November 2017 by BEST. The move to add 40 more eBuses by BEST is basis the extremely positive response it received from the passengers on a daily basis for the level of comfort, smooth ride and making every passenger feel proud for contributing to a greener Mumbai.
These eBuses were deployed under FAME 1 (Faster Adoption and Manufacture of (Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) Scheme of Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Government of India. Olectra-BYD is also the first EV company to achieve the coveted milestone of crossing 5 Million KMs cumulatively driven by its eBuses under commercial operations in Himachal Pradesh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kerala and Pune.
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Deployed under BEST, the new fleet of 9-Meter Air-Conditioned and non-air-conditioned low floor buses can travel up to 200 KMs in a single charge based on traffic conditions. The high-power fast AC charging system enables the battery to get fully charged within 2-3 hours. It has a capacity of 32+1 (Driver) seats with an electronically controlled air suspension to ensure a comfortable ride to the passengers. The buses are also equipped with 3 CCTV cameras with continuous recording of data offering enhanced safety to the passengers during the commute. The advanced eBuzz K7 has a regenerative braking system which enables the bus to recover part of the kinetic energy lost in braking. eBuzz K 7 also provides protection from short circuit, over-temperature function and lightning to ensure a safe ride to the passengers.
Post the deployment of all the 46 eBuses, BEST will transport around 1 Million passengers every month in this zero-emission public transport. In addition to these, BEST is also planning to procure 250 more electric buses to facilitate the commuters to travel in environment-friendly electric buses. On an average, running of the 46 eBuses will result in huge reduction in carbon emissions to the tune of 1.2 Crore tons of CO2, avoids using 37 Lakh litres of diesel saving significant costs on fuel each year by BEST and equivalent to planting 60,000 trees.