Fuelling alternatives: CNG and electric vehicles

Go Green. This should have been the obvious escape route as fossil fuel emissions pull down Bengaluru deeper into a polluted twister. But high cost of acquisition, high tax and lack of subsidy have halted that big shift to vehicles driven by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and electricity.

The city’s first CNG station for private vehicles is already up and running at Sumanahalli. Only a few private cars retrofitted with CNG kits have been lining up there for refuelling. This could change when more retrofitting agencies are issued licences.  Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) is all set to supply CNG at three BMTC bus depots. But due to paucity of funds, BMTC has not acquired even one CNG bus.

BMTC had initially planned to purchase 200 CNG buses. This plan was even okayed by the state last year. In October 2014, the state Transport minister had even announced that 271 CNG buses will be bought under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) scheme. BMTC was to bear 50% of the cost, the state 15% and the Centre 35%.

But as the JnNURM funds dried up, the CNG buses suddenly turned unaffordable. BMTC maintained that even the operational and maintenance costs were higher. The Transport minister echoed this view, contending that the corporation cannot buy CNG buses on its own.

Eventually, it has all boiled down to the cost. GAIL insists that CNG buses are available for a price tag of Rs 42 lakh and in the long run, will prove more economical than diesel vehicles. BMTC disputes this. An independent cost-benefit analysis, based on the running cost of CNG vehicles in Delhi and Pune, should not be tough. After all, when it comes to being eco-friendly, there is no comparison between diesel and CNG.

The electric route

The game-changer for BMTC could be the switch to electric buses. The corporation recently gave its in-principle clearance to induct 150 electric buses, almost two and half years after its much-hyped trial run with India’s first such bus in February 2014. The bus cost Rs. 2.9 crore then, but the operational cost was only Rs 7 per kilometre.

The acquisition and running costs would be higher now. But the bigger issue is this: Can 150 be scaled up to 4,000 buses without first creating a supporting market ecosystem that does not depend on subsidies? Urbanist Ashwin Mahesh reasons that a pilot has to be created that can be easily scaled up by giving e-vehicle manufacturing a boost, the service sector a push and customers an advantage.

The retail market for an electric vehicle is yet to evolve. Besides the 200 vehicles operated by Lithium, a transportation firm co-founded by Mahesh, electric cars have not taken off in a big way in Bengaluru. Here’s one reason: You can buy a petrol/diesel hatchback for Rs. 4.5 lakh. But the only available commuter e-vehicle, the Mahindra e2o is priced at about Rs 7 lakh.

This could change only if the market is driven by the government and commercial sector. Manufacturing will inevitably pick up if the demand is in big volumes. For the market to evolve, Mahesh explains, the buyer and seller will have to first collaborate. “It is now slowly beginning to happen.”