New Delhi sources have stated that JBM Auto launch its first fully electric bus EcoLife at the Auto Expo 2018. The electric bus project will take off after a delay of almost 12 months, as earlier the launch was slated within a year of its first unveiling at the Auto Expo 2016.
However, Nishant Arya, Executive Director of JBM Group, told the change in the schedule was due to the Centre’s announcement on providing subsidies to electric buses under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme. The FAME scheme was first launched by the government in April 2015 for boosting electric vehicles sales.
Accordingly
the policy for electric buses was to be announced by December 2016, but it came
in September 2017 and that is why we could not launch the Ecolife
buses earlier. Under the FAME scheme, each electric bus will get a subsidy
of Rs 1 crore that is important to customers. Meanwhile the industry sources
said JBM also experienced delay in accessing aggregate like batteries and
motors from the original suppliers. Hence, a new team had to be roped in for
sourcing these components for the electric drive train and hence, the delay in
schedule.
