ABB has envisaged to make India into a complete electric bus nation by 2030. ABB India recently confirmed about plans to test flash charging of electric buses in India on a pilot basis. The intention is converting 1.5 lakh diesel buses into electric buses. India, apart from pollution caused by burning diesel and petrol, also pays around INR 8 lakh crore just to fulfil its crude oil needs.
The need of adding flash electric charge points in various bus stations was identified in The National Mission Plan 2020. But as the cost involved was almost five times the cost of normal charging points, the decision to conduct a pilot trial was taken.
The same technology has already been adopted in Geneva. This first and new flash charging technology has the ability of fully charging a bus in less than six minutes of time. The technology takes advantage of the time gap between boarding and de-boarding. A normal two minute stop can help the driver charge the bus for next two kilometres. Once functional the emissions cut will result in saving thousands of tons of carbon footprint caused due to pollution.