Nagpur: Around 80 electric air-conditioned buses are currently lying unused due to a lack of charging points in city. Apart from leaving commuters to travel in run-down, non-AC buses, this is also causing financial losses to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). The NMC pays ₹74.12/km for diesel-run standard buses, and ₹50.93/km for electric AC buses. The 80 buses are part of the 144 electric AC buses procured through PMI Electro Mobility Solutions Private Limited, a Haryana-based company, from funds released by state govt’s 15th Finance Commission. The firm was to deliver all the buses, and set up necessary charging facilities by December 2023.“It has been over a month since these buses are lying unused,” admitted a senior official from NMC’s transport department. The official said the firm is developing a depot in Wathoda area of south Nagpur.Sources, however, pointed out that it will take a couple of months for the depot to become operational. Until then, the firm will not be able to roll out all the AC buses on city roads. The official added that the firm is set to complete the delivery of the remaining buses soon.Another official said that the registration of many buses supplied by PMI is still not complete. This is also one of the reasons behind the buses lying unused.The Haryana-based PMI not only failed to deliver the buses but also set up charging stations on time. Till date, the firm has delivered 109 buses, of which 80 are lying unused for lack of charging facilities. Sources said that PMI has not set up even a single charging station so far. Also, it is yet to deliver the remaining 35 buses.As per contract, PMI is to install 22 charging points at Wathoda depot and six at Mor Bhavan bus stand. Of the 109 AC e-buses delivered by PMI, only 29 are in operation thanks to four charging points at Lakadganj set up by EVEYTRANS, another private firm engaged by NMC.The buses provided by EVEYTRANS are charged at Wadi depot where it has set up 20 charging points. The 40 air-conditioned electric buses provided by Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited (NSSCDCL) are charged at its Hingna depot that has 15 charging points. The existing charging points are insufficient against the fleet of 195 electric buses, a source said.NMC has a fleet of 627 Aapli Buses, of which it operates around 420 on over 100 routes. The fleet has around 237 standard buses, which will go off-road this year. Of the standard buses, the NMC had already scrapped 77 buses.