Aiming to manufacture India’s first 100% electric bus, Indian automotive company JBM Auto Limited has announce its joint venture with European bus manufacturer Solaris Bus & Coach S.A. the product ECOLIFE was unveiled at the 13th Auto Expo in February 2016.
The JBM Solaris venture will invest Rs 300 crore towards engineering, design and development, manufacturing, supply chain development among other focus areas in this electric mobility project completely made in India.
ECOLIFE is a zero emission vehicle (ZEV) as it is powered by lithium batteries, which are fast charging and runs upto 200 kms daily for city bus operation. This vehicle can also run on plug-in charging. The electric bus technology is adaptable to the city bus operation depending on demographic and geographic conditions.
The savings over 10 years from ECOLIFE with zero emission is estimated around 1150 equivalent tonnes of carbon-di-oxide per 420,000 litres of diesel per bus.
The main objective of this joint venture is focus locally developing indigenous sources for all key aggregates, systems components catering to domestic & global requirements.
The production of ECOLIFE will start by the fourth quarter of the financial year 2016-17 at Kosi, U.P. incorporating variants of 9 and 12 meters. JBM Solaris shall further work towards indigenously bringing in the complete range of buses in further phases.
Andreas Strecker, the CEO of Solaris Bus & Coach S.A., said, “We have supplied mass transportation solutions to more than 30 countries all over the world. This joint venture will ensure introduction of our proven technology in electric vehicles.”
Nishant Arya, the executive director of JBM Group said, “We are consistently participating in government initiatives such as Make in India and Smart City Development. This JV between JBM Auto and Solaris Bus perfectly aligns with the Government’s vision to make India a 100% electric vehicle nation by 2030.”
ECOLIFE will be the second indigenous mass public transport product from JBM Group. The group had introduced CITYLIFE in Auto Expo 2014. CITYLIFE is an ultra-low- floor luxurious CNG bus for intra-city travel.
