States seek 10,000+ more e-buses beyond PM E-DRIVE allocation

New Delhi: States have sought more than 10,000 additional electric buses on top of the 14,028 units planned under the PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) scheme, officials said.

While the scheme allows a 20% variation from states' original estimates, the latest requests are substantially higher and may require a fresh government initiative, they said. "Many state governments have exceeded initial estimates and want additional electric buses," a senior official told ET on condition of anonymity, adding that the West Bengal, Delhi, Telangana and Karnataka governments and state transport undertakings are likely to make formal requests.

States including Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh have also sought e-buses for use on inter-city routes. "Till now the PM E-DRIVE has catered only to intra-city needs," the official said.


Under the PM E-DRIVE scheme, the Centre invites bids, leading to price discovery of e-buses. The states then place a demand for e-buses with the Union heavy industries ministry. Electric buses corner the largest share of subsidy allocation under the scheme, with ₹4,391 crore earmarked for deployment across large cities.

The procurement process for 13,800 e-buses under the scheme has concluded, comprising 10,900 buses under the first tender and 2,900 buses under the second.

There is already an additional demand of 500 e-buses for Surat, 600 for Hyderabad, 2,000 for Andhra Pradesh, 900 for Rajasthan, 20 for Meghalaya and 200 for Jammu & Kashmir. The PM E-DRIVE scheme was approved with a ₹10,900 crore outlay in September 2024 initially for two years. It has since been extended till March 31, 2028, for all segments except large electric three-wheelers.

According to official estimates, more than 2.9 million electric vehicles have so far been incentivised under the scheme, including 2.7 million electric two-wheelers, 237,000 large electric three-wheelers, 10,088 electric rickshaws and 236 electric trucks. Another ₹2,000 crore has been allocated under the scheme for deploying electric vehicle public charging stations. As of July 1, ₹689 crore has been approved for the deployment of 6,562 chargers across three state-run oil marketing companies and nine states.