States Seek Over 10,000 More Electric Buses as PM E-DRIVE 14,028-Bus Plan Fills Up

States Want 10,000-Plus More Electric Buses Than PM E-DRIVE Provides

Indian states are seeking more than 10,000 electric buses beyond the 14,028 already planned under the central government's PM E-DRIVE scheme, according to a report in The Economic Times on 26 September. The requests, if approved, would put electric buses and charging depots on more city and inter-city routes — but for now, this is a demand signal, not a confirmed expansion of the scheme.

Here is what exists today. PM E-DRIVE supports 14,028 electric buses across nine cities with populations above four million, backed by a ₹4,391 crore allocation for the bus component. As of 10 March 2026, 13,800 buses had been allocated — 10,900 in the first phase and 2,900 in the second. The first tender has concluded, and the scheme itself has been extended to 31 March 2028 for the relevant segments.

The new demand exceeds what the scheme's rules currently allow. Citing government officials, the report says states' collective requests are larger than the permitted 20 percent variation from state-level estimates. West Bengal, Delhi, Telangana and Karnataka are likely to make formal requests, while Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh are seeking buses for inter-city routes. Separately documented requests from Surat, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Meghalaya and Jammu and Kashmir already add up to 4,220 buses.

PM E-DRIVE Bus Component	Figure
Buses supported	14,028 across nine cities
Fund allocation	₹4,391 crore
Buses allocated as of 10 March 2026	13,800
New state requests	Over 10,000 buses
Scheme validity	31 March 2028

Why the rush? City transport undertakings have discovered that electric buses work — Delhi's and Mumbai's fleets have shown operating costs per kilometre well below diesel once charging depots are in place, and air-quality politics in big cities keeps adding pressure. The constraint is money and process: PM E-DRIVE is fund-limited, and a sanctioned bus still takes time if the state's depot, charging arrangement and operator contract are not ready. Bengaluru's approved fleet, for instance, has faced delays at the approval stage.

What this means for you: more e-buses on more routes means cleaner, quieter commutes and better frequency — eventually. The concrete signals to watch are a Ministry of Heavy Industries decision on the additional requests, a state-wise revised allocation, a fresh tender or scheme notification, and route-level announcements from state transport undertakings. Until those appear, the 10,000-plus figure is aspiration, not schedule. We track India's electrification policy at AUTOINDIA and you can follow related coverage on the Compare page.

Sources: The Economic Times report of 26 September 2026 as cited by FuelPrice; Ministry of Heavy Industries written reply via PIB, 17 March 2026; Moneycontrol, 10 July 2026. Images: Wikimedia Commons — Switch BEST electric double-decker buses, CC0 and CC BY-SA 4.0.

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