The APSRTC officials have been formulating plans to replace all diesel buses with electric buses in the next five years. In accordance with the state government’s recently announced electric vehicle policy 2024-2029, it is expected that all electric buses in the organization will be running by 2029.
By then, APSRTC is planning to have 10,155 of its own buses and 2,562 rented buses, making a total of 12,717 buses electric. According to the current Motor Vehicle Act, government vehicles that are more than 15 years old should be scrapped. In the next five years, 2,537 buses will be more than 15 years old. All these will be scrapped and replaced with electric buses.
AC buses that have covered 12 lakh km, Ultra Deluxe, Super Luxury buses that have covered 10 lakh km. Express buses that covered 6.5 lakh km need to be replaced. On Tirumala Ghat Saptagiri Express services, 8 lakh km. covered Metro Expresses, 12 lakh km covered Palle Velugu and 13 lakh km covered City Ordinary buses should be put aside.
In the next five years, 5,731 such buses will be put aside. The 1,285 rented buses to be taken in 2029, the 1,698 buses to be newly added until 2025-29, and the 2,726 to be added in 2029 will also be electric buses.
The question arises whether it will be profitable for APSRTC if all electric buses are taken? Buying each electric bus at a cost of Rs. 1.80 crore to Rs. 2 crore will be a burden for the RTC. However, officials say that the price of electric buses is decreasing compared to the past and may decrease further in the future.
750 electric buses have been sanctioned on rental basis for 11 cities in AP under the Prime Minister EBus Service Scheme. Out of these, 100 each have been sanctioned for Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, and Nellore cities, and 50 each for Amaravati, Kadapa, Kurnool, Anantapur, Tirupati, Kakinada, and Rajahmundry.
The central government will directly subsidize the companies by giving a subsidy of Rs. 35 lakh per bus. CM Nara Chandrababu Naidu has written a letter to the Union Minister of Housing and Urban Development to sanction an additional 300 electric buses for the holy city of Tirupati under this scheme.