Last Wednesday, India’s federal government approved nearly $7 billion for a nationwide plan to equip the biggest cities in the country with electric buses.
The plan aims to help cut down on air pollution from vehicle exhaust, a major factor in Indian cities’ poor air quality. It’s also believed that the buses will help lower the total national carbon emissions.
Information Minister Anurag Thakur said at a briefing last week that the scheme will follow private-public collaboration that will also see the requisite charging infrastructure be installed along with the buses.
Demand for electric buses had been growing, and Prime Minister Modi is aggregating this into a centralized plan while inviting companies that make electric buses to bid for government contracts.
The fund contains 2 million lakh rupees, or $7 billion US, The cabinet also approved seven railway tracking projects worth 3.25 million lakh rupees to boost connectivity and mobility across nine states.
Meanwhile stateside, $1.7 billion in funding from the infrastructure spending spree signed by President Joe Biden in 2021 will furnish the manufacturing and purchasing of 1,700 electric or low-emissions buses for cities in 46 states.
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Part of a slew of measures hoping to electrify more and more of America’s urban roadways, the DoT has received approximately $8 billion in total grant proposals, and expects to award cities a total of $5 billion in electric transit infrastructure grants over the next three years.
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