Indian Electric Bus Market is in Transformational Growth Mode

The Indian electric bus market is predicted to witness a sale of 7,187 units by 2025, progressing at a 53.0% CAGR during the 2019–2025 period. In recent years, the Indian government has come up with various policies and funding schemes for electric bus and charging stations, mainly to address the problem of increasing pollution levels in the country by promoting alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs). Various public transport agencies have inked contractual orders with manufacturers of electric buses for the adoption of such low-emission vehicles.

Based on vehicle type, the Indian electric bus market is bifurcated into a hybrid electric bus (HEB) and battery electric bus (BEB). Of these, during the forecast period, the BEB classification is predicted to maintain its dominance in the market in terms of sales volume. This is attributed to the increasing government support and lithium-ion (LI-ion) batteries’ reducing prices. On the basis of length, the market is classified into electric buses of more than 10 m and less than 10 m.

Between these two, in 2018, electric buses of less than 10 m length held the dominating sales volume share of more than 60.0% in the Indian electric bus market. Length agnostic subsidy provided by State Road Transport Undertakings has increased the preference for smaller buses in the nation. As per industry experts, the average price of Li-ion battery cells for larger orders reduced from nearly $1000/kWh in 2010 to approximately $333/kWh in 2018.

As battery price makes up for around 40.0% of the electric bus manufacturing cost, the reduced price of batteries is predicted to help the manufacturer keep the electric bus prices under check. Furthermore, it is expected that the electric vehicle cost, including for buses, would decline owing to the rising operational efficiency. As for internal combustion engines it took decades of experience to lower down the cost,  the cost of electric vehicles is too predicted to come down with technical developments, economies of scale, and bettering operational efficiency, which is further expected to boost the Indian electric bus market growth during the forecast period.

In addition, with governments’ stringent regulations including emission norms and increasing support in the form of grants and subsidies, the Indian electric bus market is projected to grow. Besides, to deal with the rising concerns toward environmental degradation, the government is planning to introduce electric and hybrid bus services and also taking initiatives to promote electric bus manufacturing across the country. Recently, the Ministry of Urban Development launched the Green Urban Transport Scheme with the motive of completely eliminating carbon emissions from public transport in the nation. Olectra Greentech Limited and Tata Motors Limited are two of the prominent players in the market.

INDIA ELECTRIC BUS MARKET SEGMENTATION

By Type

·                     Battery Electric Bus (BEB)

·                     Hybrid Electric Bus (HEB)

By Length

·                     <10 m

·                     >10 m

By Battery

·                     Lithium–Iron–Phosphate (LFP)

·                     Lithium–Nickel–Manganese–Cobalt Oxide (NMC)

·                     Others

By Region

·                     South

·                     East

·                     West

·                     North