India's First Bus to Run on Biogas Launched

Kolkata based company, Phoenix India Research and Development Group has tied up with Ashok Leyland to manufacture 54 seater bus that runs on methane gas produced from animal and plant waste. The bus costs Rs 13 lakh and had a first run on Friday in Kolkata between Ultadanga and Garia. The fare of this bus is Re1 per 17.5 km which is the cheapest in India. Biogas produced from cow dung has become the cheapest fuel for transport in India.

This bus runs 5 km with 1 kg biogas and the cost of biogas currently is Rs 20 per kg. The biogas used in this bus is produced from cow dung at a plant located in Birbhum district. Jyoti Prakash Das, PhD in Botany has researched for biogas for past eight years and is the chairman of the company. He has planned to bring the technology from Germany that will boost the mileage of bus and the bus can then run 20 km per 1 kg fuel.

The tank of the bus has capacity to hold 80 kg biogas and can run about 1600 km with full tank. Methane is environment friendly and a clean source of fuel to be used in vehicles, for cooking and for producing electricity. The company has claimed to launch 15 more such buses for different routes in Kolkata running on biogas.