Its been over four months after the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) put an electric bus acquired from a Chinese company on trial. Industry sources claim that a DTC report has pegged its operational and maintencance cost to be lower than that of a CNG bus. A CNG bus is claimed to cost Rs.18.54 per km as compared to an electric bus which costs Rs.17.25 per km. The bus that DTC has on trial runs 250 km on a single charge, and is claimed to have consumed 27368 units of electricity over the last four months. It translates to an average unit cost of Rs.10.66. A DTC official claimed only the battery (in an electric bus) to require maintenance. A major area of concern however remains to be the initial capital required to acquire an electric bus. Most such buses cost in excess of Rs.2 crore. DTC’s decision to acquire an electric bus will be influenced by the quantum of subsidy under the FAME scheme. Expressed an industry source that there is a need for viability gap funding to make electric buses successful.