Although Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSR) has brought a new change in the state of public transport in the state, reducing the carbon footprint on the city roads and stroking part of the passengers who left the public transport system, the company does not plan to take over.
In response to the Assembly, Minister of Transport KB Ganesh Kumar showed that KSRTC does not plan to promote electric buses for operational reasons for the time being.
The shift of buses powered by fossil fuels began after Mr. Ganesh Kumar took over the vocational transport department during the end of 2023. Since then the KSRTC has been ordered to obtain a total of 269 diesel buses, 237 buses for KSRTC and 32 KSRTC buses that have been created by bust Run-destance. 140 buses were delivered, of which 111 buses for KSRTC and 29 buses for KSRTC-SWIFT. After the completion of the formality, 121 buses were pushed.
Low operating costs
Although its operating costs are very low compared to diesel buses, KSRTC is against the idea of more electric buses because it requires heavy capital expenses for purchase. According to the latest data published by KSRTC to support its demands, electric buses require operating costs at 9.07 GBP per km, of which 6.89 GBP is for electricity charges with an average consumption of 0.76 kilowatts per km.
On the other hand, the nine -meter Eicher diesel bus is 17.32 GBP per km, while the bus has 5.42 km mileage per liter. In the case of capital investment, it costs nine meters outside AC Electric Bus £ 92.43 Lakh according to the old rate, while nine meters Ne-AC Eicher BSVI bus costs 27.72 lakh.
Maintenance costs
The Minister continues to quote the three times higher costs needed for the purchase of electric buses as the main factor for the promotion of diesel buses along with the costs necessary for the establishment of substances with electric charging and annual maintenance costs after a two -year warranty period. However, there were no annual maintenance costs in the assembly.
The uncertain financial situation of the corporation is quoted by the Minister for the Transition to Diesel Buses.
KSRTC-SWIFT has a total of 165 electric buses. This was financed by 50 -meter electric buses outside AC AC ACTAL SMART CITY INVESTION Investment Fund (KIIFB) and 113 nine -meter AC electric buses were made available as part of the Smart City project. In addition, it was recently taken by two open electric buses with a double pattern.
After taking over the reins of the traffic department, tickets that were prices at an available rate of 10 GBP in electric buses were revised and increased on most routes. During the term of the former Minister of Transport Antony Raju, KSRTC claimed that electric buses had operating costs of only 4.6 GBP per km, against 26.4 GBP for diesel buses.
Published – October 9, 2025 20:50
