Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday inaugurated the first inter-city electric bus service, between Mumbai and Pune.
The 43-seater capacity luxury electric bus, manufactured by Mitra Mobility Solution, has a range of 300 kilometre on a single charge and would be operated twice daily between the two cities, the operator Prasanna Purple Mobility Solutions said.
The company, which already has around 1,300 electric buses in operation, is also looking to extend these services in other parts of Maharashtra and adjoining states, its Chairman and Managing Director Prasanna Patwardhan said.
Speaking at the event Gadkari, who is the Minister for Transport, Highways and MSMEs, said his efforts in the last 4-5 years have been to see that electric buses run in large numbers on the country's highways.
He also said various corporations, state government corporations and private operators might order some 10,000 electric buses this year.
"We are also planning to build e-(electric) highways," he said.
"This new move in the electric vehicle space gives us yet another opportunity to serve our customers. We also plan to extend this service to other routes within Maharashtra and adjacent states," Patwardhan said.
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