Challenges

Over the past decade, rapid urbanization has led to alarming growth of private vehicles in Bhutan. The number of passenger cars, including taxis, has increased between 12-13 per cent a year. A direct consequence of this growth is the rapid increase of local air pollution and related health impacts, changes in land-use, congestion, noise pollution and road safety. Moreover, transport contributes with 45 per cent to the overall energy-related greenhouse gas emissions in Bhutan. Social, economic and environmental costs due to vehicle emissions were estimated at USD 12 million in 2015, and are likely to triple by 2030. The introduction of e-buses, based on low-cost hydropower, offers the opportunity to reduce emissions, air pollution, transport costs and fossil fuel imports simultaneously. Bhutan imported 144,620 kl of diesel and 39,120 kl of petrol, worth Nu. 8.618 billion in 2017. The electrification of the bus fleet can reduce the currently very high operating costs of the City Bus Service (CBS).

Toward a Solution

This UNIDO project aims to create an enabling environment for the uptake of e-bus technology markets in the public transport system of Bhutan. It brings a first e-bus pilot and charging infrastructure to the capital of Thimphu and provides critical capacity building and policy advisory support to the Government and public transport operators. A particular emphasis lies on strengthening the capacities of the e-mobility team in the Prime Minister’s Oce and the City Bus Service (CBS) to manage the transition of around fifty combustion engine powered buses to electric ones. The installed e-bus pilot sets an important benchmark for future investments of CBS.

The UNIDO project contributes to the 2040 Bhutan Integrated Strategic Transport Vision and the eorts of the Government to switch to a low-carbon Intelligent Transport System (ITS). The sector faces multiple challenges, as it is a cause for rapidly growing air pollution and GHG emissions, and is characterized by fossil fuel import dependence and price fluctuations. The availability of low-cost hydropower base-load capacities makes the country an interesting place to pioneer the electrification of the transport system.

To strengthen the long-term capacities of the counterparts, the project applied a strong practical “learning by doing” approach. For the first time, a hardware procurement for e-bus equipment was undertaken in Bhutan. Throughout the process, a UNIDO senior e-mobility expert from New Zealand supported the counterparts in the preparation of relevant documents, selection of the best bids and quality assurance of the turn-key installation. The expert contributed also to the development of the Bhutan E-Mobility Roadmap 2020 to 2035 and the 2040 Thimphu Transport Vision of CBS. He provided various trainings to Bhutanese counterparts.

The pilot bus and charging infrastructure is supplied from China, a leading country regarding the production of e-bus systems within the region. The package includes trainings for the responsible engineers at CBS. UNIDO contributed with knowledge transfer from other e-mobility projects implemented in China. A study tour on urban e-mobility systems and solutions for the Bhutanese counterparts to Austria was organized between 5th and 8th September 2022. The experts had the opportunity to visit various bus operators and demonstration sites in Vienna, Lower Austria and Styria. When it comes to electric mobility, Austria and Bhutan share common features due to their mountainous character and availability of hydropower baseload resources. Vienna is one of the leading European cities in the area of sustainable public transport and has adopted ambitious goals to become a climate-neutral city. The counterparts receive continued capacity building support by a hired UNIDO senior e-mobility expert, who provided training, backstopping and quality assurance throughout the procurement and installation process. The expert from New Zealand contributed with lessons learned and best practice from his home country, where he was part of the national e-mobility program. The lessons learned and model documents of Bhutan are disseminated in the wider region of the Hindukush-Himalaya through the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Capability (REEECH) hosted by ICIMOD in Kathmandu, Nepal. REEECH was established with support of UNIDO under the Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy Centers (GN-SEC) and is supporting the eight member countries Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. In this context, UNIDO has organized various regional webinars on electric vehicles for policy makers and transport officials. On a global level, the project in Bhutan is benefitting from the e-mobility experiences of other regions within the GN-SEC. UNIDO is actively facilitating joint learning and South-South and triangular knowledge transfer between the various regional centers. Currently, nine regional sustainable energy centers are operating under the GN-SEC covering most of the least developed countries (LDCs) and small island development states (SIDS). Under the GN-SEC platform, UNIDO facilitates South-South and triangular cooperation on solutions of common interest.

To strengthen the long-term capacities of the counterparts and to achieve sustainability beyond project closure, UNIDO applied a strong practical “learning by doing” approach. The purchase of the e-bus equipment was delegated to the Bhutanese procurement system, but the process was accompanied by a very experienced UNIDO senior e-mobility expert. This allows CBS and other involved counterparts to operate and monitor such procurements and installations in the future. Moreover, the bus pilots sets an important benchmark for future replication and investments directed towards switching the entire fleet of CBS to electric. Furthermore, the involvement of REEECH and the GN-SEC allows joint learning and knowledge transfer of lessons learned and model documents to other HKH countries and beyond. In most of the HKH countries, air pollution, GHG emission and fossil fuel dependency are a major concern of Governments.