Credit: Special Arrangement
Bengaluru: The union government has awarded the first contract under the PM E-Drive Scheme for the deployment of electric buses in Bengaluru.
EKA Mobility, a Pune-headquartered EV manufacturer, and Ahmedabad-based mobility services company Chartered Speed have secured the Letter of Confirmation of Quantity (LOCQ) to deploy 1,750 e-buses under the scheme.
Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL), under the Ministry of Power, had opened a mega tender on November 6, 2025, to lease 10,900 e-buses under the Gross Cost Contract (GCC) model.
At 4,500, Bengaluru will get the lion's share, Delhi 2,800 e-buses, Hyderabad 2,000, Ahmedabad 1,000, and Surat 600.
The e-bus procurement drive is being billed as India’s largest-ever.
Under the scheme, the Centre will offer subsidies of Rs 35 lakh per standard bus (10-12 metres), Rs 25 lakh (midi bus, 8-10 metres) and Rs 20 lakh (minibus, 6-8 metres). Only e-buses with an ex-factory price of less than Rs 2 crore are incentivised.
The induction of new buses will help the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) expand its fleet to 10,000 vehicles over the next two years. It currently has 6,740 vehicles, including 1,700 e-buses.
In a statement, Chartered Speed and EKA Mobility said the allocation of 1,750 buses accounts nearly 39% of Bengaluru’s total planned electric bus induction of 4,500 buses under PM E-Drive.
"Bengaluru has emerged as one of India’s leading cities in electric public transport adoption, with the BMTC progressively expanding its electric bus network in line with Karnataka’s clean mobility vision and the Government of India’s de-carbonisation roadmap," the companies said.
Under the contract, EKA Mobility will manufacture the buses, while Chartered Speed will create charging infrastructure at BMTC depots, deploy drivers and maintain the vehicles. The BMTC will deploy conductors.
Quality concerns
Last October, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy flagged the "poor performance" of e-buses leased by the BMTC under earlier central schemes, saying they were giving the public transporter a "bad name".
He pointed to frequent technical failures, battery-related breakdowns, rising accidents, poor maintenance, inadequate driver training, shortage of buses and drivers, and repeated driver strikes.
Reddy had called for strict binding clauses in future tenders to ensure GCC operators train drivers before commencing operations. He also sought a joint compliance monitoring mechanism between State Transport Undertakings and the ministry.
It is not clear whether these concerns have been addressed in the new contract.
Responding to queries from DH, Reddy said the tender process was handled entirely by the ministry and that the state had no role in it.
BMTC officials also declined to comment.