TRAINING REPORT

PLANNING, PROCUREMENT AND

MANAGEMENT OF ELECTRIC BUSES
DECEMBER | 2021
International Association of Public Transport (UITP)
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Tel: +32 2 673 61 00

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www.uitp.org

© UITP – International Association of Public Transport, 2021

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Association of Public Transport
TABLE OF CONTENTS
—2—
Introduction

—3—
Key Session Outcomes

— 11 —
Valedictory Session

1
INTRODUCTION

UITP India, supported by Association of State

Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU) hosted a 1
and a half day training programme on Planning,
Procurement and Management of Electric Buses in
the city of Jaipur, India on 02-03 December 2021.
The event was first of the in-person training pro-
gramme after COVID-19 pandemic, and was suc-
cessfully attended by 53 participants representing Ms Rupa Nandy, Head of UITP India
16 State Transport Undertakings (STUs), 2 Origi-
nal Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), and other
Non-profit organisations.
The training programme had 10 key national and
international speakers and trainers joining in-per-
son and online sharing their knowledge on key top-
ics, namely procurement of electric buses, financial
planning for transition to electric buses, route and
depot level planning for electric buses and depot
and contract management of electric buses. The
key highlight of the training programme was the Capt. Vinod Vasant Ratnaparkhi, Executive Director, ASRTU

working session on procurement specifications

which saw active participation of STUs working to- ing the existing bus fleet to electric buses. Ms. Ma-
gether in groups. hua Acharya, CEO, Convergence Energy Services
Limited (CESL) who joined online, motivated the
The training programme was kicked off by the participants and appealed them for a change to-
opening remarks by Ms Rupa Nandy, Head of wards adopting cleaner modes of transportation,
UITP India, followed by Captain Vinod Vasant and transitioning to electric buses.
Ratnaparkhi, Executive Director, ASRTU high-
lighting the urgency and importance of transition-

Ms Mahua Acharyua, CEO, CESL

2
KEY SESSION OUTCOMES 5. They also highlighted that there is a need to har-
monise RfP and MCAs to improve bankability and
The sessions from the report focused on topics relating encourage competition. The operational expenditure
procurement of e-buses, specific improvement needed risk of operators can be reduced by establishing loan
in Indian scenario, Financial Planning for the procure- guarantee mechanism and guarantee mechanism for
ment, route and depot level planning and finally the con- timely payments.
tract management for the buses. A brief summary of all
session is as follows. Procurement challenges-The bus agency
perspective
SESSION I: PROCUREMENT OF ELECTRIC 1. Mr C.S.Birajdar, BEST Undertaking, Mumbai ex-
BUSES plained challenges in E-bus tendering in Indian con-
text by comparing the two tenders floated by Brih-
Electric bus procurement in India: The story so far anmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST).
1. Dr Ravi Gadepalli and Mr Lalit Kumar, UITP India, 2. Discussing the experience of both outright purchase
shared the electric bus procurement progress so far as well as GCC of electric bus operations by BEST,
in India with Faster Adoption and Manufacturing Mr. Birajdar discussed the tendering challenges faced
of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles (FAME) I scheme over the course of time. For instance, during FAME-
launched in 2017, followed by FAME II scheme in II tender, many Original Equipment Manufacturers
2019, now extended up to 2024. (OEMs) requested for lower operating range, high-
er assured kilometers, requirement of opportunity
2. The key trends observed during FAME-II included
charging and increased payment for under-utilised
low participation by bidders leading to higher GCC
and over-utilised kilometers.
cost than expected, the Total Cost of Ownership
(TCO) for electric buses higher than their Internal
Combustion Engine (ICE) counterparts despite sub-
sidy and variations in GCC cost across various cities.
3. Analysing the different cities E-Bus tenders, Mr Lalit
discussed the key drivers that influence bidder’s par-
ticipation. He suggested that the conditions related
to eligibility criteria, physical and financial obliga-
tions, payment timelines and penalties, and technical
specifications are key to bring in more competition in
the bidding process leading to reduction in the quot-
ed rates.
4. In order to reduce the TCO, authorities need to tar-
get specific cost component under TCO of electric
bus. The cities should also create a pool of eligible
bidders based on pre-determined eligibility criteria.
The focus should be given on tendering process and 3. Keeping in mind the OEMs request, BEST made
criteria for bid evaluation in order to achieve the sus- changes in recent tender of 1900 electric buses.
tainable bus operations. For example, the contract period is increased to 12
years from 10 years. Maharashtra state EV policy
incentives are clubbed with FAME-II incentive, op-
portunity charging up to 60 minutes is provided, as-
sured kilometers increased to 5800 kilometers, and
subsequent reduction in subsidy bank guarantee and
infractions are capped at 5%.
4. All these changes resulted in up to 35% reduction
in the GCC rate in comparison to last tender. The
similar exercise can be conducted by other cities to
attract more bidders and reduce the prices.

3
SESSION II: PROCUREMENT OF ELECTRIC increase the bankability of the project:
BUSES: IMPROVEMENT NEEDS y Removal of subsidy bank guarantee
Improving bankability of Gross Cost Contracts y Capping of penalties
(GCC) and emerging business models for electric y Payment securities
buses
y Readiness and creditworthiness of the authority
1. Mr Gerald Ollivier, Lead Transport Specialist, World
Bank, discussed the changes required to improve the 3. He suggested to provide a framework for different
bankability of GCC and emerging business models business models that should include institutional
for electric buses. readiness, financial capacity of the state/ city, aggre-
gated potential for procurement, operational capa-
2. Mr. Gerald discussed that providing an enabling im- bilities and energy readiness. Based on the parame-
provement for private sector through less complex ters, the state-led aggregator model or market-led
steps such as the consistent Goods and Services Tax aggregator model can be selected.
(GST) regime, separate funding for infrastructure
readiness, balanced subsidy structures and system- 4. He also suggested that the cities need to improve
atic approach for e-bus implementation can have their capacity to monitor performance of operators
high impact. Based on the analysis of 11 tenders rep- and improve transparency in payments. The monitor-
resenting authorities across 28 cities, bidding out- ing of vehicle and operational performance through
comes and MCA, following recommendations were warranties, ITS will lead to efficient management of
considered as high impactful on prioritised basis to payments and penalties.

Modifications needed in the Model Concession 2. He suggested that the authority should provide the
Agreements (MCA) utility connection including electricity connection
1. Mr Pankaj Sinha, International Finance Corporation to the maintenance depot as they are best placed to
shared insights into Model Concessional Agree- manage this responsibility. The norms to allow change
ments of the electric bus tenders and modifications of ownership should be relaxed in order to make the
required to increase the uptake. project more attractive to investors and circulation
of capital.

4
3. He also discussed that the payment for under-utilised kilometers should be at GCC rate or in any case should not
be below 70% of GCC rate as this would enable the operator to better manage its working capital requirement. On
the other hand, there should be capping on the penalties as equivalent of monthly payment. The recommended
values are 3% to 5% as capping of penalties ensure that it does not hamper the ability of operator to meet opera-
tional and maintenance obligations.

4. In order to make any contract bankable, there should be due diligence from technical, legal and financial perspec-
tive as well as consultations with key stakeholders.

5
SESSION III: WORKING SESSION ON PRO- key implementation challenges such as development
CUREMENT SPECIFICATIONS of charging infrastructure, battery type, mainte-
nance of vehicles, energy consumption, and sustain-
1. Mr. C.K. Goyal, Vice-President DIMTS guided the
ability of infrastructure over 10-12 years.
working session on procurement specifications of
electric buses. 3. Reflecting on the OPEX Model and developing an
eco-system for operation of electric buses, Mr. Go-
2. From the public transport authority view, he focused
yal discussed key contractual obligations such as pro-
on key terms and conditions of bid document such
vision of power load, guaranteed timely payments,
as e-bus specification, infrastructure required, bank
unified timetable for public operators, and formation
guarantee, and payment terms. He also discussed
of economic unit at depot level for open bidding. Mr.
Goyal also discussed the key learning from different
case cities examples such as BEST Mumbai, BMTC
Bangalore and Shenzhen.
4. In the second half of the session, the participants
participated in a group activity on discussing the fi-
nancial and technical procurement specifications of
different case study cities. Divided into four groups,
with each group constituting a team of about 8-9
members, the teams discussed the best and alterna-
tive financial and technical options for procurement
of e-buses. The group activity provided an opportu-
nity for officials of different state transport authori-
ties to brainstorm and work on real-time modalities
of e-bus procurement.

6
SESSION IV: FINANCIAL PLANNING FOR for transition to electric buses taking the case of
TRANSITION TO ELECTRIC BUSES Karnataka State Road Transportation Corporation
(KSRTC). This model, included operational and fi-
Fleet level Total Cost of Ownership (TCO,) nancial inputs, fleet financials calculations and debt
Financial modelling framework for in-house and schedule. It also includes outputs such as estimation
outsourced e-buses of fleet-level investments, estimation of fleet level
revenue, total cost of ownership, payback period, in-
1. Mr. Sagar Gubbi, Managing Director, Ecoforge Ad-
ternal rate of return, and sensitivity analysis.
visors Private Limited discussed financial planning

2. He discussed in detail the different scenarios for KSRTC comprising mix of BS VI buses and electric buses, and
funding through internal CAPEX or through GCC model. Mr. Sagar explained how the KSRTC is indicative and can
be modifies for each operator and STU’s different specifications and demands.

7
SESSION V: ROUTE AND DEPOT LEVEL commercial scale up level and are driving private
PLANNING FOR ELECTRIC BUSES sector investment without heavy subsidies. They are
taking advantage of public financing schemes and a
Need for Route level planning for electric buses- range of private partnerships with different suppliers
Case study of Bangalore and Santiago and investment commitment from leading investors.
1. Mr. Ray Minjares, Director of Heavy-Duty Vehicle 3. Mr. Minjares focused his presentation on two les-
Program, ICCT shared his insights of ICCT perspec- sons. Lesson 1 on management of technical risk of
tive on E bus deployment, primarily in Latin America procurement by undertaking fleet and route lev-
(Santiago, Chili and Bogota, Colombia) which has el planning, which determine the easiest routes to
the largest scale deployments of e-buses outside of electrify, and informs the process of simulating the
China. performance and charging strategy of e-buses in
2. For the Latin American context, he explained how of detail on those routes for delivering diesel equivalent
the 4 stages of market transition (commitment to- performance along the route.
wards procuring e-buses, pilot on a small scale, early 4. Lesson 2 focused on pursuing new financing and
scale up stage after successful pilot and commercial business models, taking a case of Santiago, Chili to
level scale up), Santiago and Bogota have reached unlock private investment and rapidly scale up e-bus
deployment. He included examples such as utility
company procuring e-buses
through outright purchase
and leasing it to operators,
and government having two
separate contracts with op-
erators, one for bus provision,
and another for operation to
invite different players to
emerge, and form cost ef-
fective consortia. Thus, these
two lessons may help cities
transition faster to e-buses
and bring in new investors.

8
SESSION VI: DEPOT AND CONTRACT MANAGEMENT OF ELECTRIC BUSES

Depot layout planning for electric buses

1. Dr Sandeep Gandhi in his session focused on Bus Depot Design essential for e-buses. He started by sharing the
differences in bus depot operations for diesel and electric buses, and thus emphasising on the difference in design
of both depots.
2. The six functional areas for e-buses were discussed along with the space allocation distribution to it. In each of
these six functional areas, the detailed facility planning, and spatial requirement was listed.

3. For fueling and charging stations, the design of bus space was focused on to ensure optimum utilisation of space.
4. Examples of master plans of electric bus depot designs for different cities were shared to elaborate on the need of
optimum space utilisation.

9
Case study of shenzhen
1. Chris Liang from Shenzhen Bus Group (SZBG) shared Shenzhen’s experience with electric buses. He focused on
how there is a need of good vehicle (technical specifications, sturdy chassis, sufficient space and clearance, and
drivability), appropriate operating environment (temperature, terrain, route length, headway) and permissive tech-
nical ecosystem (charging infrastructure, unified charging protocol, electricity price and used battery utilisation).
2. He showcased the cost difference of e-bus and diesel buses, with e-buses having lesser cost for energy, repair and
other cost. SZBG also focused on electric fleet rather than only electric buses, thus including metros and taxis.
3. He also shared the steps taken up by SZBG for electrification of buses.

Procurement Workflow

Embed Technicians
Analyse the Need Evaluate Bidding
to Winning
of Bus Fleets Submitted
Manufacture

Market Research Invite Bidding Vehicle Delivery

Determine the Consulting with

Technology Vahicle
Specifications Manufactures

4. SZBG started electrification of buses with about 50percent CAPEX subsidies from the national and local level.
However, these subsidies are decreasing over the years, asking operators to think of economical and appropriate
models in the future.
5. He explained the process how SZBG started the electrification of buses and the workflow adopted for procure-
ment of these buses.
6. He also emphasised how the intelligent bus management system based on historical operational data, dispatch
analysis, timetable and with the local dispatch center- help in fleet management and dispatch the buses on

10
VALEDICTORY SESSION

The 1 and half day training programme was successfully completed with active participation and discussions among
the participants. Participants from the State Transport Undertakings, and Metro operators such as Noida Metro Rail
Corporation, and Nagaland State Transport Undertaking reflected on some of the learnings from two days of training
programme. Lastly, mementos and participation certificate were presented to the trainers and participants by Ms Rupa
Nandy, Head of UITP India.

11
This is an official Report of UITP, the International Association of Public Transport. UITP has more than 1,800 member companies in 100 countries throughout
the world and represents the interests of key players in this sector. Its membership includes transport authorities, operators, both private and public, in all modes of
collective passenger transport, and the industry. UITP addresses the economic, technical, organisation and management aspects of passenger transport, as well as
the development of policy for mobility and public transport worldwide.

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This Report was prepared by UITP India.

DECEMBER | 2021

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© UITP - All rights reserved - Responsible Publisher: Mohamed Mezghani, Rue Sainte Marie 6, B-1080 Brussels, Belgium - Legal deposit: D/2021/0105/39