New Delhi: PMI Electro Industries Ltd (PMEI) won the largest share of e-buses in the tender floated by the Centre for Sustainable Energy and Livelihoods (CESL). The Delhi NCR based electric bus manufacturer won contracts to supply 5,450 buses, of the total 10,900 buses on offer for nationwide use.
The company, backed by Nikhil Kamath’s Gruhas Consumer Fund, trumped legacy suppliers like Tata Motors, JBM Auto and Ashok Leyland, who surprisingly didn’t secure any buses under the tender.
Besides PMI, EKA Mobililty, a subsidiary of Pinnacle Industries, won the second largest pie with 3,485 buses, Chinese bus manufacturer Olectra secured 1,785 buses while the rest went to a consortium led by Anthony Travels, according to widely reported sources.
CESL delayed awarding its tenders after Ashok Leyland requested it to do so due to a pending case before the Delhi High Court.
Eventually, Ashok Leyland’s bid was rejected as its subsidiary OHM Global Mobility, hadn’t met the requirements for the tendering process.
Under the tender, city transport undertakings (CTUs) will issue letters of awards (LoAs) to the winning parties for concession agreements directly with the selected operators. This tender is based on CESL’s aggregation-based gross cost contract (GCC) model, covering CTUs based in Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Surat, to name a few.
The private operators will be responsible for the operation, ownership, maintenance and charging infrastructure for the electric buses, while the CTAs will pay a fixed per-kilometre fee to the operators, ensuring affordability and financial sustainability for them.
