New Delhi, Sep 5 (IANS): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, along with Lieutenant Governor V-K Saxena, flagged off 400 new electric buses from the IP Estate Depot here on Tuesday. 

Speaking on this occasion, Kejriwal said the new buses are part of the subsidy scheme of 921 buses.

The Central government has provided a subsidy of Rs 417 crore for electric buses, while the Delhi government will spend Rs 3,674 crores. At present, there are 800 electric buses running on the streets of Delhi, the highest in the country.

The Chief Minister said the goal is to have over 8,000 electric buses on the roads of Delhi by the end of 2025. After this, there will be more than 10,000 buses in Delhi, out of which 80 per cent, or 8,280 buses will be electric. Delhi will be known across the world for its adoption of electric buses, Kejriwal said.

"Delhi has become the city with the most number of electric buses on its streets. By the end of 2023, we are positive of having 1,900 electric buses, which will place Delhi among the few cities in the world to have most number of electric buses.

"After the addition of 1,900 e-buses to the fleet, we would be able to reduce CO2 emissions by 1.07 lakh tonnes every year," Kejriwal said.

"We need to have proper infrastructure because electric buses will have different type of bus depots where they can be recharged. So far we have spent Rs 182 crore on the installation of 1500 depots for these buses.

"These new 400 e-buses will run from Mayapuri, Nehru Place, Rohini-1, Rohini-2, and Banda Bahadur Marg depots. Besides, the contract for 3,980 buses with zero subsidy has been awarded and they will start joining the fleet soon," he added.