Is an electric bus lower carbon than a diesel bus on the Indian grid?
Compare per kilometre with your own figures: diesel litres per km times 2.68, against kWh at the depot meter per km times 0.710. On grid power the gap can be modest; renewable electricity bought with evidence widens it on the market-based method.
Steps
Diesel bus: litres per km from fuel records x 2.68 kg CO2 per litre.
Electric bus: kWh per km at the depot meter, including charger losses, x 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh.
Compare on the same routes and seasons.
Market-based
If the depot buys renewable power through open access or certificates, report a market-based figure as well, with the evidence.
Worked example: per km (illustrative inputs)
- Diesel bus: 0.35 L per km x 2.68 = 0.938 kg CO2 per km
- Electric bus: 1.2 kWh per km x 0.710 = 0.852 kg CO2 per km
- Difference: 0.938 minus 0.852 = 0.086 kg CO2 per km on grid power
Consumption figures are illustrative; use your own fuel and meter records.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads electricity bills (CEA grid factor 0.710 kg CO2 per kWh, CO2 Baseline Database version 21.0) and diesel, LPG and gas invoices (IPCC 2006 defaults) into a dated, fingerprinted Scope 1 and 2 record for each site. Intensity per unit uses the activity count you enter, and estimates are labelled as estimates.
Sources: IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy, CEA CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector, GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance
Last reviewed 2026-10-21.