zingbus, a provider of intercity bus services, has launched Zing Electric, the first shared intercity electric cab service in the country, that connects Delhi NCR with nearby cities. Currently running on weekends to Agra and Jaipur, zingbus plans to introduce over 120 electric cabs daily, connecting more than 40 cities, within the next 6 months.
Passengers can book a single seat in the cab, which is similar to a bus and more cost-effective. The company claims that over 15,000 passengers travel to Agra and Jaipur from Delhi NCR using zingbus. The introduction of shared electric cabs will enable passengers to immediately reduce over 100 tonnes of CO2 emissions per month by switching to electric. In addition, zingbus is partnering with the National Highways for Electric Vehicles (NHEV) initiative to develop high-speed public charging stations on Indian highways.
Prashant Kumar, zingbus’s CEO and Co-Founder, said that intercity travel presents the most significant opportunity for sustainable mobility, and zingbus is committed to electrifying intercity transportation. He added that if zingbus customers’ billion passenger miles over the last four years were completed using electric buses instead of the usual ICE buses, almost 65,000 tonnes of C2e would have been neutralized. This amount is equivalent to the impact of 25 lakh trees in a year.
As per the company, the ongoing pilot of Zing Electric has shown promising results, with the electric cabs demonstrating significantly lower operating costs than diesel/CNG cabs on the same routes. In the next 12 months, zingbus intends to deploy over 80 electric buses throughout the country.