Travel between B’luru and Mysuru in KSRTC e-bus likely from next month

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Several intercity routes will likely start in February, including Bengaluru and Mysuru.

The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has recently received a prototype of the electric bus that is planned to provide service on this route and the trial runs will begin soon. The KSRTC plans to deploy over 50 electric buses under the FAME-II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles) scheme.

These buses, named ‘EV- Power Plus’, will operate on six routes from Bengaluru to Mysuru, Madikeri, Virajpet, Davangere, Shimoga and Chikmagalur. The buses are being provided by Olectra Greentech Limited, a Hyderabad-based electric bus manufacturing firm.

They will have 43 push-back seats installed, creating cosy seating and other facilities such as Wi-Fi and USB charging spots. The Li-ion Phosphate battery in the bus will take only two to three hours to charge to the optimal level, and the bus can cover 300 km on a single charge.

The installation of necessary charging infrastructure has already been completed in Bengaluru and Mysuru while it is still undergoing in Madikeri, Virajpet and other routes, authorities from the KSRTC have said. This initiative will be the first phase of KSRTC’s electric bus implementation. The authorities hope to turn their entire fleet into electric buses by 2030.

While the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has moved towards electric vehicles and has a handful of buses plying on the city’s roads, KSRTC to make a similar move was long overdue.