BASE’s webinar series ‘Driving the Change’, exploring how to enable the decarbonisation of bus systems worldwide, hosted its second session, on June 5 at 4 pm CEST! 

While the first webinar aimed to highlight the ingredients of implementation successes in Latin America (the event can be (re)discovered here), this second session further explored solutions to deploy electric buses at a national or municipal scale by examining key cases from Asia.

Three leading experts and researchers joined to analyse the models that made unprecedented projects possible in India, Indonesia and China. If various barriers need to be overcome to allow for a wider adoption, those case studies provide tales of fruitful implementations and key learnings to scale up this momentum.

Setting the Stage:

Driven by rapid population and economic growth, the Asia-Pacific region is witnessing a surge in demand for passenger transport. While public transportation plays a vital role in economic and social development, it is crucial to tackle the heavy reliance of the sector on fossil fuels. The Asia-Pacific region currently accounts for over half of global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Without intervention, projections suggest that by 2030, 75 percent of transport-related energy consumption will be from oil products, leading to a 47 percent increase in CO2 emissions by 2050 compared to 2015 levels. Public transport is considered to be a “low-hanging fruit” for Electric vehicles (EVs) adoption as it offers the largest emissions mitigation potential. EVs provide higher fuel-equivalent efficiency compared to conventional counterparts, which can also contribute to improving air quality in a region responsible for 70 percent of global air pollution-related deaths.

EVs have made significant progress in Asia and the Pacific, particularly in China, where 99 percent of the world’s electric buses are operating. China’s success in this area can be traced back to Shenzhen, which was selected in 2009 to participate in a zero-emissions program to improve its poor air quality. Nine years later, the city became the first in the world to have an all-electric public bus fleet. 

In India, the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles (FAME) program facilitated the deployment of over 10,000 buses in major cities through innovative financing models. The government agency Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) is now leading the ambitious National Electric Bus Program (NEBP), with the goal of introducing 50,000 electric buses across the country by 2030.

Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, stands as another noteworthy initiative. The city has been making headlines in 2023 as one of the most polluted in the world, prompting efforts to implement cleaner transportation systems. However, the task is immense: only around 4 percent of the 45 million daily passenger trips in Jakarta are made using public transport. Organisations like UNEP and C40 are currently supporting Jakarta’s goal of increasing the public transport mode share to 60 percent and electrifying TransJakarta’s entire fleet by 2030.

The webinar goes into:

• The current situation of transportation systems in Asia, the importance of moving to e-mobility and to identify the barriers that prevent this transition.
• The ingredients and models behind China’s, India’s, and Indonesia’s case studies, sparking an idea for the diversity of opportunities the continent holds.
• The financial potential and potential ways of financing e-mobility projects and the role of governmental and non-governmental actors in mainstreaming e-buses.

(Re)watch the webinar

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• Xiuli Zhang is the China Projects Manager at Energy Innovation, where she supports China-related projects. Xiuli conducted research projects on electric and diesel bus cost parity in Shenzhen, and road transportation energy and greenhouse gas emissions projections in China, among others. She previously worked for the Transportation Program of Energy Foundation China. During the event, Xiuli will cover the Shenzhen case study and dive into the elements that contributed to making it a success.

• Mahua Acharya has two decades of experience in green finance, renewable energy, and carbon markets having worked in organisations such as the World Bank and the Global Green Growth Institute. As the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of state-owned Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL), Mahua played a central role in programmes that led to the deployment of nearly 20,000 fully electric buses on Indian roads. As one of the main architects behind CESL’s successes, Mahua is joining the webinar to tell you more about the innovative model that was developed and emerged as a win-win solution for all stakeholders in India, attracting global attention. Mahua is now the CEO of the International Energy Transition Platform.

• Francisco Posada is the ICCT Southeast Asia Regional Lead with over 14 years of experience designing and implementing technical assistance projects focused on transport decarbonisation, fuel efficiency, and cleaner vehicles in developing countries. He leads research identifying and addressing key challenges surrounding transport electrification, including infrastructure, policy, and technical considerations. The webinar will be the occasion to learn more about the efforts being deployed to electrify the bus fleets of Jakarta, reviewing Francisco’s journey including the development of a financing model, roadblocks encountered, and lessons learned.

• Francisco Ramirez Cartagena is a senior electric mobility, renewable energy and energy efficiency technology, and finance specialist with over 15 years of experience. Francisco holds strong technical expertise in developing economic and investment plans for cities for adopting electric buses as part of their fleets, and has been developing business models and financial structures that facilitate the acquisition of electric buses by the bus operators. Francisco as the moderator of the webinar, will enrich the discussion with key knowledge from his experience, sparking critical insights from the speakers and fostering engaging dialogue.

You can find speakers’ presentations here.