Chennai company donates EV bus to TTD

Tirupati: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) received an EV bus as a donation from a Chennai-based Vara Future LLP on Saturday, amid a nationwide transition, triggered by the West Asia energy crisis.Vardhaman Jain, chairman of the Vara Future LLP, handed over the brand new EV bus to TTD additional EO Ch Venkaiah Chowdary in front of the Tirumala temple on Saturday.Speaking to reporters, Venkaiah Chowdary explained the Tirupati trust’s plans to completely switch over to EV mobility in the next few years, bringing the temple trust’s dependence on conventional fuel for mobility to a complete nought.“Right now, TTD operates around 12 EV buses called Dharma Radhams to ferry devotees free of cost across the Tirumala hill town. We are likely to add four more EV buses to our fleet to improve our operational efficiencies. In addition to this, the APSRTC-Tirupati region is also being encouraged to purchase and operate close to 100 EV buses to ferry devotees along the twin ghat roads linked to Tirumala and Tirupati”, TTD additional EO asserted.“Taking a cue from prime minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu to lead by example, vehicles of all the heads of the departments at the TTD are being transitioned to EV mobility, and we have already purchased and made 36 EV cars operational”, Venkaiah Chowdary added.As of now, TTD has a fleet of 300 plus cars, buses, trucks, mini pick-up trucks, etc., which run on conventional fuel, for which the Tirupati trust spends approximately ₹10 crore annually. And by partially switching over to electric mobility, energy savings to the tune of approximately ₹4 crore annually have been achieved by the TTD.