Those spur sales of more than 82,000 electric buses last year, and the report says there will be a CAGR of 14.9% through 2026. The electric bus market exceeded $28 billion in 2020. The main reason for the growth of the bus market is the major automotive companies that produce the vehicles.

The global electric bus market size is projected to reach 704 thousand units by 2027 from 81 thousand units in 2021, at a CAGR of 43.1%. The increasing focus of countries on promoting electrification of mass transit solutions and government support are propelling the growth of the electric bus market.

Frost & Sullivan recently analysed that the growing adoption of electric transit buses, driven by pro-green government policies, has enabled global sourcing and supply chain for alternate powertrain buses. The total electric bus market including, hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), is projected to increase 211,000 units by 2030 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.9 per cent.

Transport sector is responsible for 23% of  CO2 emissions

The transport sector is responsible for approximately 23 % of total energy-related CO2 emissions in the world. India’s grid is highly carbon-intensive with 950 gCO2/KW h compared to other countries in the world. Thus there is a need to establish more aggressive and sustainable practices in the transport sector. The use of efficient vehicles that consume low energy and clean energy is one way of mitigating the pollution due to carbon emissions and counteracting the health hazards that are related to the pollution.

There are 6 big manufacturers in the current Indian electric bus market such as Tata Motors, Olectra-BYD, Foton PMI, JBM Solaris and VECV.  It has attracted global investors as well. According to JMK Research, the Electric bus market growth is fuelled by more than US$1 billion worth of investment deals forged in the past few years.

India could add 6,490 Electric buses in the next two years around 1850 units in FY2020-21 and 4640 in FY2021-22. It has added 1,031 Electric buses in March 2020 and 600 in FY2019-20, 400 in FY2018-19, and 31 in FY2017-18.

Electric vehicles are one of the most promising technologies in the transportation sector to reduce GHG emissions in the post-2020 timeframe. It has the benefit that they don’t emit tailpipe emissions and have very low fuel-production emissions being environmentally friendly.

However, it has not been easy to implement the electric bus due to the multiple challenges associated with the vehicle and the development and management of associated infrastructure. The widespread adoption of electric vehicles is challenging because of the development of new technologies, support infrastructure and investments.

High storage batteries are required for the mobility of the electric bus, which requires high recharging time and is expensive. Besides, these high storage batteries required for pure electric buses are not indigenously manufactured. There is also a dearth in the nature of charging equipment associated with the batteries. 

Electric bus market and trends 

BYD received Israel’s largest electric bus order

In a recent trend of electric vehicles and electric bus segment, the Egged, Public transport operator and the largest bus company in Israel has ordered 100 purely electric 12-metre buses from BYD. The electric buses need to be delivered before the end of 2022 and will be used in Haifa. For the Chinese bus manufacturer, this electric bus order is the largest from to date Israel.

It is a larger Israeli tender for 200 buses supported by the national transport authority. According to the Chinese company, Egged has been a customer since 2017 and already has 24 BYD electric buses in its fleet that operate in Haifa and Jerusalem.

Nir Landau, Director of Egged’s Procurement Division, said: “Nowadays, the trend of bus electrification is very obvious. It is a clear signal of our commitment to transitioning to zero-emission transportation for a better environment for Israeli residents. Having worked with BYD for many years, we have great confidence in this new batch of pure-electric eBuses.”

JBM Auto bags order for 200 low floor electric buses

JBM has bagged an order for 200 electric buses from Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC). The order has been placed under the central government’s FAME II electric vehicle policy.

“This is to inform you that the company has received prestigious order for supply, operation and maintenance of 200 air-conditioned fully built low floor electric buses of 12-meter length from Delhi Transport Corporation under Government of India’s flagship FAME II EV Policy,” JBM Auto said. 

In March it had also launched its Eco-Life electric AC buses in Ahmedabad under the BRTS scheme. 50 Eco-life buses have been launched as the first batch out of 180 buses. The JBM Group has handed over the buses at the Vastral BRTS Depot. The Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani and the Home Minister of Gujarat Pradipsinh Jadeja were present virtually at the launch ceremony at the Depot.

CTU deploying electric buses

Recently, the CTU (Chandigarh Transport Undertaking) had also announced the first batch of electric buses will roll out. Around 12 buses are expected to start at the first and by mid-December, 28 more electric buses will be available for the city commuters.

The Centre has sanctioned 80 electric buses for Chandigarh. For the first lot of 40 buses, an agreement has been signed with M/s Ashok Leyland for 10 years. The CTU received the first electric bus in August this year. The transport department plans to replace all 358 diesel buses in the Tricity with electric buses by 2027-2028.

Also, read the related article: Electric bus revolution

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