Chennaites can take pride in the fact that Chennai has become the first Indian city to join the C40 Cities initiative to electrify its bus transportation system.

Tamil Nadu Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, on Wednesday, signed an agreement with C40 Cities, declaring the state’s commitment to phasing in zero-emission public transport vehicles, Times of India reported quoting a government statement.

C40 cities is a consortium of world’s 90 greatest metropolises seeking to limit greenhouse gas emissions from goods and services their denizens use. More than 25 cities across the world are now part of the Bus Declaration Act.

Signing this agreement will also help in procuring electric buses at cheaper rates than conventional buses and create the infrastructure to operate them. C40 will also help the city prepare a roadmap to achieve the target of 100% electrification of its public bus transportation system.

“The collaboration will, over a period of time, reduce the prices. The price of an electric bus was Rs 2 crore eight months ago; now it has dropped to Rs 1 crore. We hope it will come down further when the technologies are [developed] worldwide.” TOI quoted a senior official as saying.

The officials are considering a model of electric bus that will recharge its batteries for three-five minutes every 30km to 35km.