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					</table><p>Bengaluru-based electric vehicle startup <a href="https://www.freshbus.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FreshBus</a> has secured ₹260 million (~$3 million) in seed funding from <a href="https://www.ixigo.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ixigo</a>, an AI-based travel app, for the launch of inter-city electric bus services across India.</p>
<p>The company said it will utilize the funds to offer an alternative for affordable, and environment-friendly inter-city bus travel.</p>
<p>Sudhakar Reddy Chirra, Founder &amp; CEO of, FreshBus said, “We will offer a more environment-friendly and affordable alternative to existing inter-city public transport which is currently dominated by fossil-fuel buses.”</p>
<p>Chirra added that a single electric bus will likely save over 90,000 liters of diesel and reduce close to 200 tons of CO2 emissions in a span of one year, which is equivalent to the effect of almost 10,000 trees on the environment.</p>
<p>FreshBus will commence its services from Hyderabad and Bengaluru with the launch of 24 electric buses and announce its first operational routes in March 2023.</p>
<p>Over the next 2-3 years, the startup plans to scale up its operations to over 1,000 buses pan-India. These buses will be able to cover up to 375 km on a single charge with zero emissions.</p>
<p>The company said it will be a technology-enabled smart bus operator that will build and own the customer experience for travelers end-to-end from finding, tracking, and booking their electric intercity buses via the FreshBus mobile app and website.</p>
<p>The total market size for inter-city bus travel is close to $20 billion and is expected to grow in the next few years, the company said.</p>
<p>Aloke Bajpai and Rajnish Kumar, co-founders of ixigo, said, “There are nearly 100,000 inter-city buses operating in the country, the majority of which are diesel-based and are a major source of urban air pollution. We are proud to be backing a joint vision of a future where all inter-city buses in India will run on clean fuel.”</p>
<p>Recently a bidding process conducted by the Convergence Energy Service Limited (CESL) has <a href="https://mercomindia.com/e-buses-cost-effective-cesl-bidding-results-show/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shown</a>, that electric buses as a service are now the most cost-effective approach to urban public transport with or without subsidy.</p>
<p>Last September, Convergence Energy Services <a href="https://mercomindia.com/cesl-invites-bids-procure-5690-electric-buses/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">invited</a> bids to select bus operators for the procurement, and operation &amp; maintenance of 5,690 electric buses and the development of allied electric and civil infrastructure under the ‘National E-Bus Program (Phase-I).’</p>
<div class="saboxplugin-wrap" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemscope itemprop="author"><div class="saboxplugin-tab"><div class="saboxplugin-gravatar"></div><div class="saboxplugin-authorname"><a href="https://cms.mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" class="vcard author" rel="author"><span class="fn">Gautamee Hazarika</span></a></div><div class="saboxplugin-desc"><div itemprop="description"><div class="designboxt">
<p><img class="alignleft" style="border-radius: 50%;height: 50px;margin-top: -4px;border: 1px solid #00b451" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="50" /></p>
<p><strong style="text-decoration: underline">Gautamee,</strong> Staff reporter at Mercom India<br />
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee.</a><br />
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<a href="gautamee@mercomindia.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gautamee@mercomindia.com</a></p>
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<div class="authorboxn"><img class="alignleft" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Picture1.jpg" width="102" height="102" /><a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">Gautamee</a> is a reporter at Mercom India. Prior to Mercom, Gautamee was working as a multimedia news journalist at ThePrint in New Delhi. She has received her Bachelors in English Honors and Masters in English Literature from St.Stephen&#8217;s College, University of Delhi.<a href="https://mercomindia.com/author/gautamee-hazarika/" rel="noopener">More articles from Gautamee</a></div>
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EV Startup FreshBus Raises ₹260 Million Seed Investment from ixigo

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