Electric double-decker soon in Navi Mumbai

The bus shall be highly energy-efficient and shall not contribute to pollution levels. File pic

The double-decker bus craze now seems to be catching on. The Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) has placed orders for one 10-metre air-conditioned double-decker electric bus for the twin city.

A senior official said that the electric bus will be 65-seater and a charging station will be installed at one of the bus depots. At present, the NMMT has around 150 electric buses. This week, the BEST undertaking in Mumbai had also announced the procurement of 900 electric double-decker buses to be taken on rent for 12 years. The work order states that the bus shall be entirely brand new (the chassis used for fabrication of fully built bus should be new and not manufactured earlier than four months from the date of purchase order of fully built bus) and of the best quality and workmanship and would be procured along with the erection of charging station.

As per the technical specifications, the bus should be able to cover a range of 120km in a single charge. As a pre-condition, keeping in mind the environmental standards, the bus shall be highly energy-efficient (consume less than 1.40 kWh for AC energy per km) and shall not contribute to pollution levels. "The capacity of the battery provided shall be sufficient so that a fully loaded AC bus is able to cover a minimum 120 km with a single full charge of a battery in city's traffic conditions," an official said.

"The bus will have all hi-end passenger amenities, including all destination LED boards, cameras, public info system and music system, as per the latest under Urban Bus Specifications-2. The amenities in the bus will include the GPS specification that will be integrated with our existing Intelligent Integrated Traffic Management System (ITMS) system," an official added.

"The charging station construction will include installation of a charger with all related civil and electric work and a cover shed for station and bus. It will have availability of an 11kv power supply line at the depot from MSEDCL," he explained.

150
Total no. of electric buses procured by NMMT