Cities around the world are investigating the potential of electric transit buses to reduce costs and improve air quality. The latest is Bangalore, India’s high-tech hub, which recently tested what it says are the country’s first electric buses.

Electric buses’ greater energy efficiency compared to legacy diesel vehicles (and even CNG buses) has already been well documented. Now a study from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has found another reason that e-buses are superior: they’re more profitable.

“Electric buses generate 27% more revenue and 82% more profits than diesel buses per day,” said study co-author Sheela Ramasesha. Furthermore, “25 tonnes of CO₂ emission can be cut every year for every diesel bus replaced by an electric bus.”

The IISc researchers tested a Chinese-built electric bus for three months on an existing route in Bangalore, and compared its economic and environmental impact with a diesel bus on the same route. The lower fuel and maintenance costs of the e-bus made it a more profitable proposition.

According to IISc, India has some 150,000 diesel buses (and around 670,000 annual deaths from air pollution).

Source: The Better India
Image: Jonathan Riley (CC BY-SA 2.0)